Vanilla is said to be the world's most popular flavour. As much as 40 per cent of the world's ice cream is vanilla flavoured. Vanilla is also good business because it sells millions of dollars worth of cakes, perfumes, cosmetics and many other things nice. But Vanilla is driving farmers of Kerala mad. They are worried because this is the time they harvest pods of vanilla beans on their farms. But there are buyers in the market. Synthetic vanillin has taken over the vanilla industry.
Jacob Sebastian no longer wants to invest in his vanilla plantation. He still has more than 1,000 vanilla plants intercropped in his half hectare (ha) rubber plantation in Kerala's Kottayam district. But this year he did not handpollinate these plants so he does not expect a crop. In a nearby plantation, P J Joseph uprooted 1,250 plants that grew on one third of his 1.2 ha farm. Joseph is now planning to grow only rubber in this area. In adjoining Eranakulam district, Ibrahim, a small-time farmer, has removed all his vanilla plants from 0.8 ha of his coconut plantation.
The story repeats in other parts of Kerala as well. Farmers say the business of vanilla has let them down. The crop is highly labour-intensive and takes time to flower, the seed takes even longer to cure. It's literally a labour of love. Vanilla does not self pollinate. In nature, vanilla is only pollinated by the Mexican bee and humming birds.
But these are found only in Mexico and all attempts to make them work in other regions have failed. Farmers have to 'manually' pollinate the flower. But the flower of vanilla lasts about one day, sometimes even less, so farmers have to check every day for flowers they can pollinate. Then they use a sliver of bamboo, or a pin or needle or even a toothpick to separate the anther and the stigma and press the anther on the stigma.
The flower then pollinates. The bean is born.
This green bean does not have any flavour. It now has to be cured-a time-consuming process taking up to six months. Meticulous management is required to ensure that the flavour is enhanced, without any spoilage. About five to six kg of green beans when processed, give a kg of cured beans. The cured beans can be exported and last for many years.
The final stage is the one in which the vanilla is extracted from the beans. This is a process that has been tightly controlled globally and demands high price. This is when vanilla, the spice of life, is finally ready to use.
But even then, the quality is a matter of science and choice. Vanilla is assessed on the basis of its principal flavour and aroma compound-vanillin. All this, in turn, is influenced by where the bean is grown, how it is grown and cured. Vanilla from Madagascar, the Comores and Reunion islands is called the Bourbon type, which sets the industry's standard for highend beans. Indonesia, which harvests its beans early, has captured the low quality bean market. But analysts say Indonesian beans are fast catching up in their flavour and quality.
Madagascar is the leader in vanilla, controlling over half the world's market. India made a relatively late entry into world trade but its stock is rising. In 2006-07, India produced 230 tonnes of cured beans, more than 10 per cent of the world production of over 2,000 tonnes of cured beans. This was up from 188 tonnes of cured beans produced in the previous year. This is partly because the crop, which needs three years to mature, is ready for harvest. Kerala leads the production of vanilla beans in India with a share of more than 52 per cent. Last year, Kerala alone produced 122 tonnes of cured beans or close to 660 tonnes of green beans, followed by Karnataka with 88 tonnes and Tamil Nadu with 22 tonnes of cured beans.
Vanilla is not new to India or Kerala. In fact, the English East India Company tried to introduce this orchid in 1830 but the plant died soon after it flowered. The British, competing with the French colonies of Madagascar, then experimented in other states-Assam, Bihar, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. But all attempts failed.
In the 1990s, when the spices board tried to persuade farmers to take up vanilla cultivation, there were hardly any takers. The reason was that till 1996, the trade and the price of vanilla was tightly controlled through a cartel (known as Univanille) based in Madagascar and so the price remained low and volatile.
By then the market was already segmented. The high-end market was under the sway of Madagascar and Comores, which in the best of times earned between US $60 to US $75 per kg of cured bean. The low quality market was catered to by Indonesian beans, priced between US $20 and US $30 per kg. Other countries, like Uganda, that were not part of any of the groups, earned between US $50 to US $60 per kg of cured beans.
Arnab Pratim Dutta, Down to earth feature
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