AG Bioteck floats arm for vanilla cultivation

Announcing the plans at a media conference, AG Bioteck Laboratories, P Veera Reddy announced here that the company is setting up a wholly owned subsidiary Indo Bionomics to take up vanilla cultivation.

Indo Bionomics will acquire 100 acres near Hindupur in Anantapuram district to grow vanilla plants. AG Bioteck will supply quality planting material developed through tissue culture.

Depending upon the climate, use of artificial shades, planting material and organic farming, it would cost upto Rs 2 lakh per acre during the first three years of gestation period, he said.

Veeral Reddy claimed that an acre of vanilla crop would yield anywhere between Rs 10 lakh to Rs 1 crore. The Indian vanilla productivity, the first crop takes close to three years, is the highest in the world fetching upto 3 - 4 kg per plant. Around 600-800 plants could be grown in an acre.

On the possibilities of a sustained demand in the future, the AG Bioteck chief contended that the total demand and consumption of vanillin in the world is estimated to be around 30,000 metric tonnes annually.

Of this only around 5,598 tonnes of vanillin could be extracted from naturally processed vanilla beans. Of the 5,598 tonnes 90 per cent is contributed by four countries "� Indonesia, Medagascar, China and Mexico.

Around 41,000 hectares are said to be under vanilla cultivation in the world, and the international trade in natural vanilla is around Rs 300 crore. In the international market, a kg of vanillin costs $ 200.

In India around 6000 acres are under vanilla cultivation. About 90 tonnes were produced in the country last year. Last year, the vanilla prices touched a record Rs 3,500 per kg for fresh beans due to a global shortage.

The prices of processed vanilla beans fetched between Rs 7,000 and Rs 12,000. Farmers usually dispose of fresh beans as processing takes place over a period of two months.

Even if the price per kg of fresh beans falls to 10 per cent of the current levels in the next 15 years, it would still be profitable for farmers to grow vanilla, Reddy claimed.

Referring to the conducive climate for vanilla cultivation in India, Veera Reddy claimed that the potential was very high. "India offers an ideal climate for vanilla cultivation. Vanilla today is the most economical of all organically grown spice orchid crops. There is a tremendous potential for domestic consumption and exports." He said vanilla could be cultivated as an inter-crop in the coconut, pepper, areca nut gardents and oil palm cultivations.

According to Reddy, vanilla can be grown anywhere in any soil under moderate climate conditions of 70 per cent humidity and 32-37 degrees centigrade temperature. Artificial shades could be used to bring down the ambient temperature.