Vanilla production to fall 50-60%

Vanilla production is expected to fall by nearly 50-60 per cent during the next September-October harvesting season in Kerala. According to estimates of growers in the state, overall production would be in the range of 400-500 tonne of green beans.

But with production expected to fall, embattled farmers, who suffered from falling prices and weak demand over the last couple of years, are hoping on an upward movement in prices.

The price of green beans, that fetched Rs 1500 a kg in 2003, had plummeted to Rs 80-100 during the 2006 season.

The sharp fall in prices had forced a large number of growers to withdraw from vanilla cultivation, affecting production this season.

In most plantations, farmers have failed to pollinate flowers, crucial in production of green beans, because of lower prices and marketing hurdles, compounded by extreme weather conditions. According to growers, marketing suffered due to lack of agencies to procure green beans during last season. Vanilla India Producer Company (VANILCO), a farmers' initiative, had withdrawn from procurement last season as they had a carry over stock of 25 tonne of vanilla extract. The company had decided not to intervene in the market unless the back log was cleared completely. The call option introduced by VANILCO in 2006 had also evoked poor response. During the 2005 season, VANILCO had procured around 130 tonne of beans at Rs 250 per Kg.

Nearly two lakh plus vanilla growers in Kerala's South had invested heavily in the crop during the last 3-4 years. A major chunk of farmers had even abandoned other crops in the vanilla boom. With the last season proving a cropper, farmers are now hitching their hopes on the anticipated drop in production.