In Madagascar, vanilla planters struggle to find buyers
Illustrative image: A vanilla producer, presents a reserve of green vanilla pods on May 26, 2016 in the commune of Ambomalaza, Sambava, Madagascar.
AFP - RIJASOLO
Text by: Laetitia Bezain Follow
3 mins
In Madagascar, while the marketing campaign for green pods began a week and a half ago (July 7) in Sava, which concentrates 80% of the country's vanilla production, local buyers, collectors and exporters, are few numerous, deplore some planters.
The minimum price for the spice has been set at 75,000 ariary per kilo, around 18 euros, by the government.
A price to pay farmers with dignity, but buyers are reluctant to buy at this price.
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From our correspondent in Antananarivo,
"
Nobody buys vanilla here, except in the black markets where peasants sell their products at 30,000 or 35,000 ariary per kilo, which is not profitable at all
", describes a planter from a locality in the district. of Sambava.
On certain controlled markets, the atmosphere is “
tense
”.
“
Farmers are waiting for buyers
,” describes Jean Bosco Tombozara, president of an association of vanilla growers in Sava.
“
At the start of the campaign, there were buyers at the price offered by the State.
It was going well.
But now it's really stuck
,” he continues.
Farmers blocked roads in the middle of the week to show their dissatisfaction.
Some of them plead for
a lifting of the minimum price set by the State
to let them negotiate with collectors and exporters.
“
The farmers would like to sell at 75,000 ariary per kilo, but they also need to sell their vanilla quickly to be able to support themselves, especially in this context of inflation and rising fuel prices.
There are also issues of insecurity and vanilla theft.
So, staying with stocks is not reassuring
”, continues the representative of the planters.
A vital question
Usually, many farmers sell part of their green vanilla harvest to have a cash flow for their daily life and keep the other part of the pods to prepare them themselves and sell them at a better price later.
“
Not being able to sell green vanilla creates a lot of problems.
There are farmers who are struggling to buy food and the rain at the moment is not helping things because it does not allow us to prepare our vanilla
,
”
says Arsinode Ravista, planter of Amboangibe Sambava.
To unblock the situation, the planters are asking, in particular, the State to decide the price of the vanilla prepared on the local market.
An unknown that slows down buyers, explain the latter.
“
If the collectors buy our green vanilla for 75,000 ariary, they don't yet know how much they will sell it after, which is a problem for them.
Five kilos of green vanilla give one kilo of prepared vanilla
,
”
says Jean Bosco Tombozara.
A reluctance of buyers which is also explained by the fear of not being able to export the pods since the approvals which authorize international sales have not yet been issued by the authorities.
“
The State intervened to reassure exporters.
We have already found solutions and the problem is solved
”, indicates Lidorice Fahandriana Bemananjary, regional director of industrialization, trade and consumption of Sava.
The latter specifies that the claim of the planters concerning the decision of the price of vanilla prepared on the local market has also been “
registered by the State.
»
The receipt of vanilla export approval application files has been open since July 15, said the Ministry of Industrialization, Trade and Consumption.
►
To read also:
Madagascar: making biodiversity a driver of economic and social development
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