MANY people think it is a joke that one kilogramme of vanilla sells at 1m/-, an act that shows that farmers of those crops can become richest people in the country in the future.
Vanilla is a very profitable commercial plant, and it is cultivated in tropical areas where there are many types of the crop, while the main one among three types is Vanilla fragrant while others are Vanilla tahitenasis and Vanilla pom pom.
This comes after the government of the sixth phase increased the budget to the Ministry of Agriculture including reducing the price of fertilisers, its inputs as well as encouraging the private sector to invest and make agriculture start providing decent jobs for young people and women by significantly increasing the budget.
The Ministry of Agriculture starting from the financial year 2022/2023 built a solid foundation for the implementation of agricultural plans with a view to Tanzania by the year 2050.
Presenting the Budget of the Ministry of Agriculture for the year 2023/24, the Minister for Agriculture Mr Hussein Bashe said that the Ministry will continue to design and implement various strategies to ensure the agricultural sector reaches a growth of 10 per cent by the year 2030 and build a solid foundation to protect our economy towards the year 2050.
Vanilla fragrant is technically called vanilla planifolia which is the one that is widely grown commercially while until now the leading countries in the production of vanilla are Madagascar, Indonesia, China and Mexico.
Until now, only few places have started cultivating this crop in this country with the help of the Vanilla International Company, at Zanzibar, Arusha, Dodoma and Mwanza while the fruits from the plant are harvested seven months from planting to one year while the farmer continues to benefit from harvesting the same plant for 60 years.
Director of Vanilla International Ltd Mr Simon Mnkondya has asked Tanzanians to increase their efforts to cultivate the crop due to its high price while it can develop and ripen early.
This was stated by the Director when he was talking to farmers in various parts of the Lake Zone and in the Dodoma region recently during the period in which he was promoting agriculture.
Vanilla International Limited has launched a large Vanilla Farm by using modern methods in the Lake Zone at Nyamikoma village in Mwamashimba Ward, Kwimba District of Mwanza region recently.
Speaking during the launch in the area, the Founding Director of Vanilla International Limited Mr Mnkondya said that in the Vanilla farm with a size of three hectares they expect to get 6000 kilograms of Vanilla every year worth more than 2.5 million Dollars for the international market equal to approximately 6 bn/-.
"Vanilla crops in this farm have flourished with prosperity and quality due to the availability of air humidity of 85 per cent, which is an enabling climate, an enabling environment for the cultivation of Vanilla that we have created by using the irrigation method", explained Mr Mnkondya who is also the founder of large vanilla plantations (Vanilla Village) located in Zanzibar, Arusha, Dodoma and Mwanza.
He said that the project, which is the largest farm in the Lake Zone, has been nursery farms, tent farms and has grown vanilla that is taller than all the vanillas in the world and broke the record of being 10 metres in length.
Mr Mkondya said that the vanilla cultivated in the farm is the one which have produced more produce than all the vanillas in the Lake Zone because it was ripe within seven months.
Cultivation of this crop is environmentally friendly as it can change a part of the land that was not friendly to agriculture into a highly fertile area due to the way the crop is taken care during its cultivation.
Elaborating further, he said that the Vanilla farm was cultivated in an area that was semi-desert, whereby through the use of modern water systems of drip irrigation and gun irrigation, the semi-desert area has been turned into a green area.
"This is due to the fact that we have covered the field using things that cut the sun's rays by 55 per cent entering the ground and thus creating a shade for that percentage and make the plant not to be affected by the Sun.
He said that although the area was with strong wind due to the cutting of trees previously they blocked the wind by the use of shade nets which helped to reduce the dust because there was a lot of dust from the gold mines near to the area which affected plants for blocking the vents that are used for airing oxygen.
Many citizens from different areas have arrived and pointed out that due to the size of the price of Vanilla which is the second most expensive crop in the world reaching 430 dollars per kilogramme equal to 1m/- they were motivated to start cultivating the crop after visiting Vanilla farm.
"Our company has been able to find farmers who are investing in the vanilla crop and now they are 1350 across the country, while before the campaign, the investors in the vanilla crop were less than 50, while in Mwanza Region there was no farmer, at the moment there are more than 12 who have all learned on our farm in Kwimba District and went to establish farms in their areas", said Mr Mnkondya.
He added that the Vanilla crop is a crop with a higher price than silver and it competes with gold, thus made the gold miners in the Lake Zone start focusing on the Vanilla crop, as is the case with Dr Daniel Mrema of Nyamikoma Mwamashimba Ward in Kwimba District, Mwanza Region who has started farming.
The company teaches the citizens of the Lake Zone about Vanilla cultivation for free of charge and the training is done also free through phone numbers 0769300200 and 0624300200.
The use of vanilla includes making medicines, cosmetics and is used to add flavour to foods like ice cream.
The crop has found a local market here in the country where in the islands of Zanzibar fresh vanilla is sold for an average of 100,000/- to 150,000/- per kilo while the dried one is sold for 800,000/- to 1,000,000/- per kilo.
Mr Mnkondya emphasised three important things to consider when cultivating a vanilla crop mentioning shade, mulching and trees to hold vanilla.
The easiest way is to plant in October during the fall so that it will bloom by the third month of the following year during the spring.
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He said that when planting seedlings, they should be 1 to 1.5 meters long, while the seedlings should be covered with mulch so that they do not rot and lose the ability to germinate.
Mr Mnkondya continued to say that the seedlings when planting should be between one or one and a half meters, while the required soil condition is a sufficiently fertile land with rotting material and soil that easily aerates.
He said that the farm should not have a steep slope, a good farm is one that will be covered with shade in the morning to prevent the loss of moisture in the ground, to avoid burning the leaves and vanilla themselves in the sun.
Mr Mkondya said Vanilla is completely different from other spice plants where the farmer should choose the seeds from the tree that bore well last season while one vanilla plant can produce up to three and a half kilos (3.5kg) in one season.
He said that after harvesting, you must dip them in hot water to kill them so that they don't rot, then store them in boxes for three days so that they release steam and dry in the morning sun for an average of three hours and bring them back inside to store in special boxes.
Mr Mkondya said you will steam the vanilla and put it back inside for about a month or more until they dry well and put them in boxes that are wrapped in plastic to protect the quality and preserve the aroma.
Therefore, Tanzanian farmers, in an effort to increase income through agriculture, let us use these new opportunities that are emerging to cultivate many types of crops so that we can achieve great success through the agricultural sector which employs many people.
