TRIVANDRUM, 28 September 2004 — Falling prices of vanilla, the money plant that produced many fly-by-night millionaires in Kerala, have sent shockwaves among farmers.
A year ago a kilogram of raw vanilla beans fetched fancy prices as high as 3,500 rupees. Now it has dropped to an unbelievable low of 200 rupees. According to media reports, farmers have started distress selling fearing further slide. Vanilla theft cases reported at the police stations have also dropped sharply as thieves find little reward for their “hard work”. Gone are the days when farmers and their families spent sleepless nights guarding the creepers.
Leading estates that floated vanilla task forces have started disbanding them. The unhappy farmers’ another worry is the hefty loans they took from banks during the boom days of vanilla.
The bankers fear that if they start loan recovery procedures now, it would further increase the state’s already high rate of farmer suicides. “If the present situation continues, we cannot even think of repaying debts,” a farmer from Palai said.
He took a huge loan and spent the sum on other purposes trusting the “expert advice” that vanilla prices will not go below 1,000 rupees a kilo. The price crash is attributed to a drop in natural vanilla import by the United States, Canada, France and Germany, who together consume 80 percent of the total production, and good harvest in Madagascar.
