Price rise eases growers' pain of lower vanilla crop

Cultivating vanilla is again becoming attractive as there has been a supply crunch in the last couple of years and the shortage has helped raise the price of vanilla. Now, the market has been rewarding farmers with price shooting up by some 150 per cent during the last harvesting season.

The just-closed season will see a crop size shrinking to 900 tonnes or nearly 35-40 per cent lower. This will certainly help farmers grow more next season. Vanilla is used for flavouring ice creams and in other eatables.

The average price of the green beans has risen to Rs 125 a kg from Rs 50-55 during last season. Although the present average price has not evoked much enthusiasm in the vanilla-producing areas of Kerala and Karnataka, it provided relief to the ailing sector. According to M C Saju, a farmer from Kerala, a sharp fall in production was the main reason for the price rise as a 60 per cent fall in production had been estimated for the ’08 season.

It is estimated the crop might be 800-900 tonnes against 1,400 tonnes in last season. The market for green beans has opened at Rs 85 a kg, shot up to Rs 140 and later stabilised at Rs 125. Market intervention of Vanilla India Producers Company (Vanilco) helped to increase the price line to a decent level this time.

Paul Jose, managing director, Vanilco told Business Standard that the company had procured 50 tonne beans in a price range of Rs 100 -135. The company has launched two more value added products, Vanilla Gold Standard and Vanilla Cake, this season which evoked very good response in the market. Gold Standard is a refined extract of vanilla which is mainly used for pharmaceutical purposes.

Saju said the very low price realisation for the last 5-6 years had forced farmers to abandon vanilla and switch to other crops. This caused a serious drop in the area under vanilla from around 3,000 hectares, a few years ago, to roughly 1,000 hectares. Even the remaining growers are not serious about nursing the plantations, hence the sharp fall in production.