The Hindu Business Line : Karnataka, TN growers find vanilla prices remunerative

VANILLA growers in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are finding the current prices of Rs 250 to Rs 300 a kg for green beans remunerative, but it is not so for their counterparts in Kerala.

According to a grower in Kodagu region of Karanataka, some have vanilla as intercrop, while others have pure vanilla plantation in the State. The standard population per acre is 1,200 plants. A few growers have vanilla crop in 60-100 acres.

The major component of cost of vanilla cultivation is the planting material, which was bought at Rs 50 per cutting of one metre length some months ago. At this rate, cost of it per acre would come to Rs 60,000. However, the price has come down to Rs 25 a cutting a couple of weeks ago and now it is available at Rs 15. And when Rs 40,000 is added to the planting material cost at Rs 50 per cutting, the spread over three years still the total cost would come to Rs 1 lakh, Mr T.V. Gopinath, a planter in Madikeri told Business Line.

And for the price of vanilla beans, "it is now the international price that we can get. When we have an extraction unit for vanilla, we may probably get a better price, as of now Rs 200 for the green bean or $40 for a kg of cured bean should be a good return on investment," he said.

According to him, as against a return of Rs 20,000 from one acre of coffee, a farmer would get Rs 2 lakh from one acre of vanilla. The grower would make some additional earnings also by way of selling the cuttings from the second year onwards, he said.

The yield this year from his plantation is expected to be around 400 kg of green beans from one acre (1,200 plants) and next year it will be around 600 kg minimum. "The yield peaks up after the third year of production. I would be very happy if we are able to get Rs 200-300 per kg of green beans as it will give a return of Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1.5 lakh when the minimum yield is at an average of 500 kg an acre."

The cost of cultivation in his case, he said, was Rs 10,000 an acre. "It is grown organically, using farm waste and cow-dung etc."

Meanwhile, according to a major planter in Pollachi, Tamil Nadu, the total investment required for raising vanilla in an acre would come to Rs 1.5 lakh spread over three years. The planter could harvest 250 kg of green bean in the third year, which at the price of Rs 300 would come to Rs 75,000. By the fourth year the yield could go up to Rs 500 kg generating an income of Rs 1.5 lakh. By the fifth year when the crop reaches full maturity he could easily get a yield of 1,000 kg making an income of Rs 3 lakh. Thus, the total return from one acre would come to Rs 5.25 lakh in the fifth year from an investment of Rs 1.5 lakh and when the land rental even at Rs 10,000 per year is added, still the cost of production of would come to Rs 2 lakh, he said.

However, for the growers in Kerala the cost of production is comparatively at higher levels, probably because of the high price of the land. A major grower here, however, said the cost would not be more than Rs 2 lakh that too when the cost of cutting is calculated at Rs 100 a piece, which is still on the higher side.