But things have changed of recent. The price of this crop has been on downward spiral as buyers give less and less offers, resulting in farmers’ reluctance to sell hence heaps of beans at homes.
One kilo of vanilla fetched a cool150, 000/- five years ago and many farmers made it the number one priority. Many invested heavily in the crop, hoping to reap big but they have been disappointed big time this season as a kilo now fetches only 3,000/.
Vanilla market has become become unstable, with over 300 tonnes of unsold pods piling up in growers' fields and farmers' warehouses. Farmers are waiting for buyers with good offer but they are nowhere to be seen.
Speaking at a meeting called by Nkenge legislator Florent Kyombo recently during his tour in the constituency located in Missenyi District farmers expressed misgivings following buyers’ dilly-dallying when asked to give good prices.
Happiness Kaijage, agriculture officer with Missenyi district council, told the meeting that two vanilla buyers were permitted by regional authority to buy a kilo at 15,000/- and two others to buy at 3,000/- a kilo but only two collected their permits and started buying at 3,000/- per kilo.
“A number of buyers come with diverse prices which we find unprofitable compared to the amount we invested in the crop. No farmer can recoup investment by selling a kilo at 3,000/-,” said Anthony Buberwa from Bwanjai Village.
By 2021, vanilla growers still smiled as the produce was sold at between 35,000/- and 40,000/-, thanks to reliable markets that saw inputs being accessed at reasonable prices.
Anthony Mavunde, Deputy Minister for Agriculture recently told farmer in Muleba District that the government had taken the fall of vanilla price seriously, expounding that plans were underway to push the price up, including liaising with vanilla growers in Zanzibar as one of the means to get reliable markets.
“The President is very much concerned with farmers’ plight. She is busy seeking markets around the globe. We are currently in talks with various embassies to look for good markets for this produce. This process may take some time but you should not lose hope,” he said.
Ally Kamtande, agriculture specialist with Tanzania Horticulture Association (TAHA) Zanzibar was recently quoted as saying that despite the crop’s decline in price, it has a huge potential for Tanzanians to generate money compared to many other crops.
The decline price is said to partly be due to falling prices in the international markets as well as the recent Covid-19 pandemic. However, Tanzanian farmers involved in vanilla can significantly increase their incomes and become millionaires with time.
Dr Daud Mbongo, an expert from the Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (Tari-Uyole) is on record saying that Tanzanians should continue growing vanilla because factors affecting price currently are not permanent.
Last week, acting Kagera Regional Administrative Secretary Isaya Tendega directed all agriculture officers in all the eight councils in the region to determine status of vanilla farmers and ensure they are registered in the Agricultural Marketing and Cooperative Societies (AMCOS)
Tendega spoke at a meeting he convened with agriculture experts to chart out means of pushing farmers’ prosperity alongside seeking consultations on vanilla markets.
In the past three decades, vanilla marketing in Tanzania mainly includes three channels which are the Uganda market for green vanilla, the local market for cured vanilla and the international market for cured vanilla.
Initially, farmers in Kagera region only traded green vanilla beans because they lacked necessary techniques and facilities to process them into cured vanilla pods. Good vanilla green beans produced in Kagera Region are mostly sold in Uganda, cured there and then exported as Ugandan vanilla.
Followed by the continuous increase of vanilla production, green beans began to be processed in Tanzania. Another main reason for curing vanilla in Tanzania was the higher price of cured vanilla compared to green beans.
Farmers’ organizations like Mayawa started to collect green vanilla from smallholder farmers and cured them and exported. Mayawa also bought green vanilla beans from other small organizations for example Kamachumu Vanilla Farmers Association financed by a Japanese research project.
Apart from exporting cured vanilla pods, there is another channel for smallholders from Kagera and Morogoro regions that sells the produce to Tanzania Tea Blenders (TTB). TTB buys cured pods for making vanilla tea.
Beatrice Nshange, a farmer from Bwanjai Village called on the government to seek reliable markets like it does for other crops such as cashew nuts.
“I think our government has not done enough to look for markets. It is disheartening to see the crop we depended on to send our children to school now sold at a throw-away price,” she said.
Some vanilla farmers have also tried different ways to cure vanilla by themselves to get high profit. With curing facilities such as blanching pods, drying racks, conditioning boxes, and storehouses and techniques training from some NGO and government projects, they successfully got good quality cured vanilla pods at the beginning of 2006.
However, those vanilla pods were sold to private buyers from Uganda since they did not have other market channels. Finally, those facilities were abandoned by 2011 for lack of reliable market.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, vanilla production, exports, and revenue trends in Tanzania show that between 2006 and 2015, farmers earned about 2bn/- from exports, with the Mayawa Cooperative exporting 14.3 tonnes of dried vanilla. In 2007, 32.1 tonnes were exported. This was followed by exports of 47.1 tonnes in 2008.
In addition, 75.6 tonnes were exported in 2009 grossing 244.6m/-, while more than 102 tonnes were exported in 2010, earning its farmers 319m/-.
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