Brace for third vanilla boom: Bird

EAST Sepik Governor says the country is bracing itself for a third vanilla production boom.
“I expected a price increase in cocoa and I knew vanilla (too) was coming,” he said.
“We only need one cyclone in Madagascar and boom, prices will spike. How do I know? We have had two cyclones go through Madagascar in my lifetime. Now we have the third.”
He urged vanilla growers to build production capacity, manage risk, and wait for the opportunity for prices to hike once Madagascar experiences a drop in production.
“Climate change is a huge challenge for the world but it also provides us with significant opportunities if we have the intellectual capacity and willingness to prepare for it,” he said.
“Did I expect a cocoa and vanilla shortage at the same time? No, I didn’t. But we are ready to benefit from both.”
Bird said he believed in the biblical story of “talents” (Matthew 25:14).
“I believe God blesses those who work hard, those who are ready and those who are positioned. A lazy man will not see any blessing,” Bird said.
He added that people should be ready and waiting for the right opportunity.
“We may not be able to change the country but we can change our region,” he said.
“Because opportunity is only of value to those who prepare for it. We are ready.”
Bird said his political goal was to empower the people. “My entire business and life philosophy is about empowerment,” Bird added.
He said that in 1994, when he planted his first vanilla crop, it was not to make money but to transform a society. When he became Governor in 2017, he focused on one economic crop – cocoa. But he said the country had lost the productive capacity in cocoa due to the cocoa pod borer.
Now the focus is on vanilla.
“I knew we had sufficient productive capacity in vanilla. Even now the greater Sepik region has the capacity to produce 600 tonnes of vanilla. Once prices rise, this vanilla could be worth K800m a year to village people in the greater Sepik region,” he added.