Kerala   

Farmers feel vanilla was a faux pas

KOLLAM: When a former vanilla grower was asked about the possibility of another rise in the price of beans, he said he wished such a development had never taken place.

He was reflecting the general mood of those who had made a rush for growing vanilla, but were later forced to give up that crop.

Even if the prices rose, Kerala would practically have nothing much to cash in on. Most of the vanilla plantations in the State have been weeded out after the price plunged, to remain struck at a low.

Kollam Panickar, president of Government Employees Welfare Society, who had not long ago championed vanilla cultivation in the southern districts of the State, says vanilla is “closed chapter” now. Rise in prices will in no way attract Kerala farmers to grow vanilla.

This is in spite of the fact that small segments of vanilla farms still survive mainly as remnants of a crop that enabled some to earn in crores while many others suffered losses.

These surviving vines are now nothing more than ornamental plants that survive on their own in some corners.

Recalling the heyday of vanilla in Kerala five years ago, Mr. Panickar said one metre of vanilla shoot then fetched Rs.150.

Farmers spent lakhs to buy shoots for owning vanilla plantations. Even rubber, coconut and pepper plantations were uprooted to plant vanilla. “It was a big mistake,” says Mr. Panickar.

Vanilla farms in Kerala were stimulated by the price factor. The price of raw beans was Rs.4,000 a kg. and dried beans fetched Rs.36,000 a kg. If properly nurtured and pollinated, a single vine produced about 10 to 12 kg. of raw beans in a season.

But, today the price for raw beans has plunged to Rs.150 a kg.

Farmers had taken to vanilla cultivation in Kerala in the mid-Nineties in the Malabar area. Bitten by the vanilla bug, even the State Farming Corporation of Kerala planted 30,000 acres with vanilla vines in Thrissur district. By the early 2000s, Kerala began producing around 18 tonnes of dried pure organic beans. Mr. Panickar said vanilla traders mainly from Gujarat purchased the spice.

They even had bodyguards to ensure secure delivery of the vanilla pods to the buyer. Those were the days when vanilla farms were vulnerable to thefts.

Many farmers engaged private security guards and reared Rottweiler packs to protect the crop till harvest.

Vanilla growers’ societies became common and even a company to extract vanilla essence by a confederation of the societies was proposed. All that fell through with the slump in prices. Today Kerala is not in a position to produce even 100 kg. of dried beans a year, Mr. Panickar said.

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