Since the vanilla industry is such a large part of income in Madagascar, the country's economy became reliant on profiting from the vanilla market.
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Since vanillas initial exportation to France and then countries such as Madagascar and the Comoros islands, nations have been relying on it heavily in order to support their economy. Vanilla plays a key role in maintaining financial stability in some of the countries it is sold in, providing jobs and revenue.
Due to a typhoon in the 1970's the price for vanilla sharply rose and then became stable once again in the 80's. In the late 1980's the prices of the product dropped 70% because the cartel that had been controlling the prices fell apart. Vanilla was then worth $20.00 USD per kilo. Vanillas commercial use can be found in most developed countries. Its uses are: flavoring in baked goods, vanilla extract, vanilla ice cream and perfumes. All of those are multimillion dollar industries. Some form of a vanilla product could be found in all modernized markets, demonstrating the global trade of the product. Now grade-A vanilla is worth $60.00 per kilo (Vanilla). |
Madagascar, located in Africa not only was one of the first nations to produce vanilla outside of Mexico, but currently relies on it quite heavily. Thanks to the importation of vanilla 70% of Madagascar citizens now produce vanilla in order to export it to global buyers. About 80,000 farmers are needed to tend to the vanilla due to the necessary pollination by hand. Due to political fights and cyclones that damaged the vanilla crops in 2004 the price for vanilla raised globally and left many families in Madagascar homeless, hungry and out of employment (Madagascar: Vanilla Farmers). Prices rose to a record high not only affecting vanilla consumers but crime rates in Madagascar. Vanilla, after the cyclone was worth $500.00 USD per kilo. The high prices of vanilla along with the lowering quality of it left industries that used vanilla in their products using imitation ingredients. Global demand for vanilla plummeted leaving thousands in Madagascar jobless or with little income. Vanilla came to Madagascar in the late 1800's and since then, the nations income, exports and imports all relied on the vanilla bean, leaving the economy in hands with the profiting from the Mexican plant.
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