Location of SAVA
Kinomé realizes a study for the World Bank and FCPF. During this one, we write a guide on sustainable vanilla practices in Madagascar.
Vanilla is a liana growing on trees in forests. Its production in Madagascar is very labor intensive (each flower must be pollinated by hand!).
Madagascar is famous for its vanilla production. The island is the first producer and exporter of vanilla in the world.
Our study focused on the SAVA region, in the north of Madagascar (see map). It is the main producing region with about 80% of the Malagasy vanilla.
A vanilla plant on its stake (photo taken by Yohann in the field during a previous mission)
Due to the great volatility of the prices of this spice and the construction of the Malagasy society which prioritizes food crops, the current cultivation practices lack care and lead to the propagation of diseases. Our work seeks to propose the implementation of more sustainable practices. It would allow to stabilize the income of the producers, and to decrease the deforestation in Madagascar.
In order to validate the writing of our guide and to better understand the stakes of vanilla in Madagascar, we organized last week remote discussion workshops with a maximum of vanilla stakeholders: scientific and technical experts, exporting and importing companies, producer groups, and the public sector.
These discussions allowed us to make great progress on the understanding of the complexity of this sector, which we are transcribing in our study!
Facilitation by Kinomé of the workshop for the private sector
