Conquest of lantana

A decade-long initiative in Madhya Pradesh to reclaim land overrun by lantana helps residents restart agriculture and restore native biodiversity

-  BHAGIRATH MANDLA

NIRMALA MARAWI choked up with joy and gratitude as she harvested kutki, a little millet, from her 2.8 hectare (ha) field this November. "This is the first crop I have sown on the land in more than two decades," recalls the 55-year-old resident of Manikpur Raiyat village in the tribal district of Mandla, Madhya Pradesh. The land was taken over by lantana (Lantana camara), one of the 10 worst invasive species in the world, and was lying fallow all these years. "I could not even access the five mahua trees (Madhuca longifolia) on my field until we started clearing the weed three years ago," she says. With lantana rooted out, Marawi could collect 250 kg of mahua flowers this summer, which she sold for ₹8,750 in the local market. "So far, I had to make my ends meet with the 0.8 ha farm that remains unspoiled by the weed. My income will now treble with earnings from the reclaimed land," Marawi says. She has, however, not let down her guard and promptly uproots any sapling of lantana that she spots on her field or in nearby areas.

Lantana is not native to India. It was introduced in the country as an ornamental plant by the British in the 1800s, and has since spread over 574,186 sq km, covering 50 per cent of the country's "natural areas", according to an October 2023 study in the Journal of Applied Ecology. A 2020 estimate by researchers, published in the journal Global Ecology and Conservation, shows that the plant occupies 40 per cent of forests (over 154,800 sq km), including tiger reserves. A 2019 review paper published in Botanical Review states that lantana has also invaded most pasture lands (132,000 sq km) in the country. Eradicating lantana is difficult "because of its rapid spread, intensity of infestation, allelopathy [chemicals released to discourage growth of native plants], opportunistic growth behaviour, reproductivity biology traits, and tenacious resistance to cutting and burning," states the review paper.