Madagascar: start of the green vanilla purchase campaign in the Sava region
Green vanilla.
© RFI/Igor Strauss
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
In Madagascar, the green vanilla purchase campaign began this Thursday, July 7 in the Sava region, in the northeast of the country, which accounts for 80% of Madagascan vanilla production.
The country is the leading producer of vanilla in the world and the authorities are asking that the minimum export price of 250 dollars be respected, which ensures a decent income for planters.
Advertising
Read more
With our correspondent in Antananarivo,
Laetitia Bezain
75,000 ariary, or 18 euros, is the floor price for purchasing a kilo of green vanilla from growers, set by the Malagasy government.
"
We are in a state of concern, because we do not know if this price will be respected
", explains Jean Bosco Tombozara, president of the association of vanilla growers in Sava.
“
If you count all our expenses, from planting to harvesting, this price is the bare minimum because we don't just plant, we also have to deal with security and theft issues.
If this price is not respected, then the sector must be liberalized
”, he continues.
The buying campaign begins three days after a meeting between members of the Malagasy government, the national vanilla council and foreign buyers in Paris, during which the Malagasy delegation insisted on the need to respect the minimum price of 250 dollars to export.
A price that also guarantees a fair price for planters, indicate the Malagasy authorities.
In Ambanja, North-West district, which started the campaign earlier, pods are trading at lower prices, notes Jean Bosco Tombozara.
Some planters' associations plead for a liberalization of the sector which would allow them to no longer go through intermediaries and to be able to export directly.
For the time being, only exporters who hold an approval granted by the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Consumption are authorized to sell vanilla to importers.
Controlled markets
Green vanilla pods must be purchased at controlled markets "
located everywhere in the rural communes of the region
"
,
indicates Lidorice Fahandriana Bemananjary, regional director of industrialization, trade and consumption of Sava.
“
Many agents from the central ministry will come to the region to support us and control the campaign.
Collectors are ready to buy the price that the state has set
,” he said.
A control on the markets which will be partly financed by the exporters, who must pay 4 dollars per kilo of vanilla exported.
Checks will also take place
a posteriori
on the basis of invoices.
This year, the concern also concerns the quality of the vanilla since the flowering was early, which can lead to an immature picking.
The actors of the sector also expect a lower quantity and evoke 25 to 30% less compared to last year.
►
To read also: Madagascar: the floor price of a kilo of vanilla for export is controversial
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR
Madagascar
Trade and Exchanges
Feed