Bloomberg Businessweek - USA (2019-12-23)

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BloombergBusinessweek December 23, 2019

F

irst,weneededa 4x4ofsomesort,alongwitha driver

willingtochanceroadsthataresometimespassable,

sometimesnot.Themanwefoundstruckusasthe

quietly skepticalsort,butaftera fewhundredruttedkilo-

meters,anyhesitationshe’dbeensuppressinghardenedinto

emphaticcertainties.“Theonlypeoplewhodriveonthis

road,” hetoldourphotographerandme,viaourtranslator,

“are peoplewhowanttokilltheircars.”Yethegamelypushed

ever deeperintoMadagascar’stropicalnorth,untilourmud

road descendeda hillandwasswallowedbya wideriver.It

was theendofthelineforthedriver.Heseemedrelieved.

Somewhereontheothersideofthatwater,dozensof

farmerswouldsoonconvergeupona regionalvanillamarket

in the villageofTanambaoBetsivakiny.

Growerswouldnegotiatewithbuyers

workingonbehalfofexportersand

international flavoring companies,

andtogethereveryonewouldhashout

a collective,per-kilogrampriceforthe

crop. Mostbuyerswouldpaycashon

the spot,andthefarmerswouldhand

over severaltonsofgreen,freshlyhar-

vested vanillabeans.

Thosehumblebeans,whoseessence

isassociatedwithallthat’sblandand

unexciting,havesomehowmetamor-

phosed,butterfly-style,intothemost

flamboyantlymercurialcommodity

on the planet.Inthepasttwodecades,

cured vanillabeanshavebeenknown

to fetchalmost $600 per kilogram

one week,then$20 orso thenext.

NortheasternMadagascaris theworld’s

largest producerofnaturalvanilla,so

every boomandeverybustslamsthis

region likea tropical storm. When

prices peak,cashfloodsthevillages.

When pricesfall,it drainsaway.

Madagascarwaslargelyintegrated

into globaltradecenturies ago.The

island isbiggerthanFrance,withcul-

tural traditionsthat varybyregion,

unique biologicaltreasures,anda devel-

oping tourismeconomy.Thecapital,

Antananarivo,is fulloflaborers,lawyers,bureaucrats,bank-

ers, artists,entrepreneurs,intellectuals—everythinga 21stcen-

tury cityof1.5millionneeds.YetMadagascaris alsooneofthe

poorestcountriesontheplanet.Youseeandfeelitsdispari-

tiesmostsharplyinitsmoreremotepockets,includinginthe

vanilla-growingregionofthenortheast.Theextremeisola-

tion of thosecommunities,theirdominanceovertheinterna-

tional supply,thedramaticchangestheyundergoduringprice

swings—allofit hasturnedthispartofthecountryintoa semi-

containedobservationlabthatexposesboththegeniusandthe

insanityofglobalized commerce. Visiting one of the seasonal

auctionswherevanillaenterstheglobalmarketplace seems a

logical first step to try to understand it all.

So we really needed to cross that river.

The water didn’t look too deep; we spotted people wad-

ing out toward the other side, carrying baskets on their

heads.Wetookoffourshoes,rolledupourpants,and

steppedin.Theriverbedwaslinedwithfiendishlyslippery,

cannonball-size boulders. We plotted a slow, wobbly course

to the other side. On the far bank, someone told us the mar-

ket was still a two-hour trek away.

It was mostly uphill, naturally. When the spiraling dirt road

plateaued, we found ourselves on the weedy edge of a village.

A coupleof young men with motorbikes accepted the equiv-

alent of a couple of dollars for rides to

shavea goodhalf-houroffthetrek.

If ourarrivalwasaccompaniedby

a whiffofself-congratulation, it dissi-

pated as soon as we saw the farmers.

Most had been walking far longer than

we had, in flip-flops, with huge sacks

of beans hanging from sticks balanced

across their shoulders. Some of the

bags weighed more than 40 kilograms.

And for the farmers, this was the easy

part. They’d spent months in the fields,

closely monitoring their vines for any

sign of a bloom. When they found a

vanilla orchid in flower, they rushed

to hand-pollinate it. Each flower’s fer-

tilization period lasts only a few hours

each season; if they missed that win-

dow, the plant wouldn’t produce

beans. Then, as the beans matured on

the vine, the farmers hand-stamped

the pods with a personalized, Braille-

like marking (the horticultural equiv-

alent of a cattle brand), so thieves

would have difficulty passing them

off as their own if they tried to sell

them. The farmers slept in the fields at

night, machetes by their sides, guard-

ing their plants through rain, heat, and

the buzz of malarial mosquitoes. For

many of them, an entire year’s income

depended on this auction.

It would take place in a simple wood-slat structure about

three times longer than the village’s typical single-family resi-

dence. For most of the year the building was the local school-

house. The furnishings consisted of a table, scattered chairs,

and a rectangular chalkboard. Outside, hanging under the

eaves, was a portable hook scale.

One at a time, the farmers entered the hut and emptied

their bags of beans onto the floor. Government-authorized

inspectors sifted through the beans, making sure they were

all suitably large and ripe. They rebagged the beans and

Island of Vanilla

Madagascar

Sambava

Antananarivo

Vanilla-

producing

region

Indian Ocean

Tanambao

Betsivakiny