Vanilla targeted
Vanilla poachers are targeting the valuable crop in Madagascar, forcing an early harvest last year, reports Lovasoa Rabary, of Reuters.
A surge in prices for vanilla, sparked by growing luxury market demand for natural rather than synthetic vanilla, has prompted criminals to steal the crops being grown in Madagascar. Local vanilla farmers are suffering crippling losses, which has brought poverty, stress and sleepless nights as they patrol their plantations to try to deter the thieves.
SOARING global prices of vanilla should have been good news for Jao Nasaina, a farmer of the luxury spice on the northeast tip of Madagascar.
Instead, it has brought poverty, stress and sleepless nights patrolling his little patch of jungle with a spear and homemade pistol to ward off the thieves who sneak in to hack off the prized pods under cover of darkness.
Over the last year, police and vigilante groups guarding the northern Malagasy forests of
Sava — the world’s vanilla capital due to its perfect climate — have caught more than 1000 vanilla rustlers, most of whom are now behind bars, according to local police chief Sirnot Besoa.
Sometimes, however, villagers whose livelihoods depend almost exclusively on the spice have taken matters into their own hands, beating apprehended suspects to death.
‘‘They cut all the vanilla, the pods. They cut the vines and put all of them in bags. Since then, I am more watchful,’’ Nasaina, who lost his entire crop last year, said as he sat in a clearing in the forest.
‘‘I live here now. I hope that this time my harvest will not be lost.’’
The crime wave started last year when the price of black nonsplit Madagascar vanilla, the benchmark for the island’s leading export, shot up to a record $US635 ($NZ937) per kilo from just $US100 two years earlier.
The surge in prices, sparked by growing luxury market demand for natural — as opposed to synthetic — vanilla, has since eased slightly to $US530 but remains high enough for illicit vanilla hunters to take the risk.
‘‘Those who’ve got firearms come with firearms. Those who’ve got spears come with spears. Others bring sticks, stones and iron bars,’’ said Rafely, a member of one of the vigilante committees.
‘‘We’re armed because the robbers are armed. There’s no choice.’’
Last year when the thieves first struck, farmers opted to harvest the green fingerlike pods early rather than lose them altogether, a logical but ultimately disastrous decision, as the premature cropping led to a steep decline in quality.
Some overseas buyers even sent their shipments back.
Madagascar produces up to 6000 tonnes of green vanilla each year, according to the commerce ministry, and last year exported 1600 tonnes of processed beans valued at $US680 million, the country’s biggest export, bringing in more than its nickel and textiles.
In a coordinated fightback, police and vigilantes now conduct spot checks around plantations to make sure nobody is sneaking out earlyharvested pods that might compromise Malagasy vanilla’s topnotch brand.
Unfortunately for farmers, however, the extra security comes at a price, making Malagasy vanilla less competitive against Indonesian varieties or the synthetic vanillin that dominates the global food industry.