Vanilla Fever

The family began to plant vanilla vines about 20 years ago mostly as “decoration”, says Randiambololona, his big grin punctuated by a missing tooth. In 2016 Raminisoa travelled to the northern region of Sava, where vanilla has been grown for generations, to learn how to cure the green pods into the commodity that was in such demand: pungent and wizened black beans. Like vanilla farmers all over Madagascar, Raminisoa’s father and brothers now patrol their fields at night.

Source: www.1843magazine.com