Participatory training techniques

Weed management Preparation before the training: First, you need to understand which noxious weeds and which soft weeds exist on your farm. Following are some examples of noxious weeds and soft weeds that are commonly found on tea farms.

Soft weeds

Ageratum

Axonopus compressus (Flat grass)

Oxalis

Glechoma hederacea (Ground Ivy, Creeping Charlie)

Borreria hispida (Bagracot)

Parthenium hysterophorus (Parthenium weed, Carrot grass)

Noxious weeds

Cyperus pilosus

Eupotarium odoratum (Siam weed)

Digitaria sanguinalis

Ferns

Cynodon dactylon (Dhoop grass)

Imperata cylindrica (Thatch)

Mimosa pudica

Polygonum chinensis

Setaria palmifolia

Mikania

Participatory training techniques

Weed management Preparation before the training: Collect different kinds of weeds that exist on the farm. Make sure to collect both noxious weeds and soft weeds. (See the next page to understand which species are noxious weeds and which are soft weeds.)

Training technique: Step 1: Ask the participants to look at the pile of mixed weeds. Ask one participant to pick one weed from the pile. Ask him/her what is the name of the weed and whether it is a noxious weed or a soft weed. Step 2: If a participant can tell a correct information about a weed, applaud him/her, and ask another participant to pick up another weed from the pile. If the participant did not know the correct information, explain the name of the weed and whether it is noxious or not. Step 3: As each participant picks up the weeds one by one, put the soft weeds on one side and put the noxious weeds on the other side. Step 4: Continue the exercise until all the weeds are identified and segregated to soft weeds and noxious weeds. Step 5: Explain to the participants that soft weeds are the ones which do not compete with tea, and need to be maintained at lower height by sickling. Noxious weeds are the ones which compete with tea, and some of them are invasive. They need to be manually uprooted to prevent further spread.

Soft weeds

Noxious weeds