The dark underbelly of vanilla farming

 

If you are thinking of a career change, please do not consider being a vanilla farmer in Madagascar.  By all accounts it is a horrible, dangerous and difficult job.

Vanilla comes second only to the spice saffron in value, with a kilo of black vanilla pods selling for hundreds of pounds.  Natural vanilla bean extract only accounts for about 1% of the flavour produced (the rest is synthetic) but demand for real vanilla beans is rising because we increasingly demand “natural” ingredients in our products.   

Most vanilla beans come from Madagascar, where the fluctuation in the price of vanilla takes a toll on the fates and fortunes of the local community.  Vanilla orchids only bloom and fruit annually so farmers must put all their efforts into a single crop and one payment per year.   No part of the farming or curing of vanilla beans is mechanised and children often miss school to help with the demanding work of hand pollination (necessary in this part of the world) and harvesting.  To produce just 1kg of vanilla beans, a farmer needs to grow 600 orchid blossoms.


The crop is grown purely for profit (it is not used locally) but farmers receive a miserly 5% of the profit as reward for months of back breaking work.  Small growers have no power to negotiate the price of their harvest because freshly picked vanilla beans start to ferment immediately and must be sold off to middlemen before they go bad.  The real profit from natural vanilla is made when the beans are sold to curing facilities and traders who then export to suppliers who sell the spice around the world.   Despite the vast profits available, Madagascar remains one of the poorest countries in the world.

Unfortunately, as vanilla has become more lucrative, it has led to a rise in vanilla crime.  There are reports of farmers being killed or attacked for their pods.  Some choose to pick their beans early rather than risk them being stolen, but this results in poor quality beans and flavour.  The local community does not have much faith in their police force so they are increasingly taking matters into their own hands by organising machete-armed militias to patrol their villages and apprehend would be thieves.  Anyone suspected of stealing vanilla is treated harshly with mob justice and even “vanilla-murder”.




Other places grow vanilla too, but the flavour of Madagascar vanilla makes it the most desirable.  The island faces rising violent crime, deforestation and money laundering – all of which have a direct impact on the supply of vanilla.  Madagascar framers are also vulnerable to tropical cyclones, which seem to be becoming more intense.  In 2017 a cyclone damaged 90% of the crops in the main vanilla growing regions and the global price of vanilla pods hit record highs due to the resulting shortage.

International food companies appreciate that it is in their best interests to have good quality pods (ones that are not picked too early) and there are now a number of initiatives to improve the lives of vanilla farmers while ensuring the supply of natural vanilla.  Farmers learn sustainable farming techniques and, in return, are promised fairer pay if they sell directly to the spice producer rather than a middleman.

Probably the best thing we can do to help Madagascan vanilla farmers is to buy fair trade vanilla.  We could also think about using synthetic vanilla flavouring.  The chances are you won’t even taste the difference because the flavour compounds from the beans are lost in the cooking process.

Jeanie 24 March 2021

Comments

  1. MargaretMarch 24, 2021 at 10:54 AM

    Comment

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  2. MargaretMarch 24, 2021 at 10:56 AM

    Well I never knew that! When I used to bake things, few and long ago, I used essence. No need to change now then!

    ReplyDelete

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