Sign of the times: Vanilla farmers turn entrepreneurs

Kerala's growers prefer calling their latest vanilla initiative an act of desperation to that of an enterprise. Either way, it’s a step...

Kerala’s growers prefer calling their latest vanilla initiative an act of desperation to that of an enterprise. Either way, it’s a step forward.

Distressed by a sluggish domestic market, uninviting international prices and an indifferent government, the state’s farmers, under the aegis of the All Kerala Vanilla Growers’ Association, are gearing to sell vanilla-blended products such as coffee, tea and coconut oil.

Work has already begun to set up a factory in Sultan Bathery near Kozhikode, says Benjamin Easow, the association’s president. The product, using natural vanilla, would hit the market under the brand name Vaga. The association, says Easow, bought the technology to produce vanilla extracts from Thiruvananthapuram-based Regional Research Laboratories, a Kerala government undertaking. It would target small cities in the South, before branching out.

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The initiative, Easow hopes, would alleviate some of the many problems farmers in the state, one of the principal areas where the spice is cultivated in India, face. Besides providing a reasonable price — the association buys processed vanilla from farmers at Rs 6,000 per kg — it would also help them avoid middlemen, says Easow.

Incidentally, the association’s efforts to set up an extraction unit coincide with a recent Exim Bank study that recommends the same solution. Such units, the study titled ’Vanilla and its potential in India’ said, “will give higher value addition, the benefits of which can be passed on to the farmers”.

The study also recommends, “Appropriate policy intervention by Govt. of India and enactment of laws for mandatory use of natural vanilla concentrates in the high price ice-cream segment and introducing labelling requirements to distinguish ice creams using natural vanillin from synthetic ones.’’

All this to create a sizeable demand for vanilla because, as the study observes, “There is practically no demand for vanilla in the domestic market.” Most user industries including food and ice cream manufacturers in India use synthetic vanillin as substitute to natural vanilla. India imports about 600-700 MT of synthetic vanilla annually.

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Just as the study calls for, the government did intervene to sort out the vanilla farmers’ woes. State Trading Corporation of India officials have fixed Rs 1,500 per kg as the price at which it would procure farmers’ stocks.

But the rate has not been to the farmers’ satisfaction. Easow says as it would not even cover production costs, over 10 tonnes of stocks are lying idle with the association.

Jacob Sebastian, a vanilla farmer in Eerattupetta, calls the government action a sham. “All that the farmers are demanding is a fair price — something to match production costs and take care of their livelihood. ”

Sebastian says his neighbour has destroyed the vanilla plants promising never to return to its cultivation. He fears he may soon follow suit.