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Mexican Vanilla Production

Juan Hernández-Hernández

1.1 Introduction

The vanilla species of commerce, Vanilla planifolia G. Jacks, known as "Mexican" or "Bourbon" vanilla, is native to tropical forests of southeastern Mesoamerica (Portères 1954; Soto-Arenas 2003; Hágsater et al.2005). By at least the nineteenth century, V. planifolia was introduced into other tropical countries in Asia and Africa from the original Mexican cultivated stock (Bory et al.2008; Lubinsky et al.2008). Vanilla was used in pre-Hispanic Mesoamerica for a variety of purposes: tribute, fragrance, cacao flavoring, medicinal, etc., and by numerous indigenous groups such as the Maya, Aztec, and Totonac. In this sense, vanilla is a gastronomic legacy that Mexico has imparted to the world.

Beginning in the mid- to late eighteenth century, the Totonac of the Papantla region of the state of Veracruz were the first and only vanilla exporters in the world for nearly 100 years, in part because of the exceptional quality of the vanilla that was produced. Gold medal prizes for Mexican vanilla were awarded in Paris (1889) and Chicago (1892) (Chávez-Hita and González-Sierra 1990), as Papantla was famed as, "the city that perfumed the world." Initially, Mexican vanilla production depended on harvesting the fruits from the wild, which were the result of natural pollination by bees that are endemic to the New World tropics.

The Mexican monopoly on vanilla fell apart with the discovery of a method for hand pollination of vanilla in Belgium in 1836. This knowledge enabled other countries to become vanilla producers. By 1870, French colonies in the Indian Ocean, especially Reunion and Madagascar, surpassed Mexico as the leading producer. Madagascar has retained the leading role in production since that time (Bruman 1948; Bory et al.2008).

Although Mexico has lost its standing as the major vanilla exporter, it continues to be the center of origin and genetic diversity for this important orchid. Cultivation in Mexico endures to the present, mostly by the Totonac, who have continued to use their vanilla crop as a means to obtain cash, and because it is part of their historical and cultural fabric.

The area of vanilla production in Mexico is found between the coast and Sierra Madre Oriental on the Gulf, from sea level to a height of 700 m, where the climate is hot, humid, and tropical. Average temperatures are around 24 °C, relatively humidity is 80%, and average annual precipitation is 1,200 to 1,300 mm. A marked dry season occurs from March to June. In winter, there are humid, cool winds of low intensity called "nortes" that bring cool temperatures to the area, which is believed to stimulate the flowering in vanilla.

The state of Veracruz accounts for 70% of national production. Oaxaca and Puebla together produce most of the remaining 30%, and small quantities of vanilla are also supplied by San Luis Potosí, Hidalgo, Chiapas, and Quintana Roo. The municipality (municipio) of Papantla, located in northern Veracruz and inhabited by Totonac communities, is the largest producer in the country, and is the center of vanilla curing and commercialization.

An estimated 4,000 families are engaged in vanilla cultivation, mostly indigenous people, who exclusively sell green vanilla. Six private companies and four farmer cooperatives also exist, and participate in curing and selling of vanilla to national and international markets.

Annual production in Mexico varies from 80 to 200 tons of green vanilla (10-30 tons cured vanilla beans), depending on climatic conditions and the intensity of flowering, among other factors. In 2008/2009, according to estimates by the Consejo Nacional de Productores de Vainilla, 150 tons of green vanilla beans were produced (ca. 20 tons cured vanilla beans).

The principal limiting factors to vanilla production in Mexico are:

• drought and high temperatures, which occur during flowering and fruit development;
• the fungus Fusarium oxysporum, which causes mortality and reduces the productive life of individual cultivated areas (vainillales); and
• high production costs and low prices for vanilla.

1.1.1 The Mexican Vanilla Legend

The Mexican vanilla legend, which is an oral Papantla tradition, is compiled and interpreted by Professor J. Núñez-Domínguez (Curti-Diaz 1995):

• At the summit of a mountain close to Papantla, was the temple of Tonacayohua, the goddess of food and planting crops. During the reign of King Teniztli III, one of his wives gave birth to a daughter whose beauty was so great that she was named Tzacopontziza ("Bright Star at Sunrise"), and was consecrated to the cult of Tonacayohua.
• As time passed, a young prince named Zkatán-Oxga ("Young Deer") and Tzacopontziza fell in love, knowing that this sacrilege was condemned by death.
• One day, Bright Star at Sunrise left the temple to look for tortillas to offer to Tonacayohua, and fled with the young prince to the jagged mountains in the distance. Not before long, a monster appeared and surrounded them by a wall of flames, and ordered them to return.
• When the couple returned to the temple, a group of irate priests had been waiting for them, and before Zkatán-Oxga could say anything, the young lovers were shot with darts, and their bodies were brought to a temple where their hearts were removed, and their carcasses were thrown down into a canyon.
• In the place where the bodies landed there was a herb, and its leaves started to wilt as if the scattered blood of the victims had scorched the plant like a curse. Sometime later a new tree began to grow, and within days its vigorous growth covered all the ground around it with its brilliant foliage.
• When finally it stopped growing, next to its trunk began to grow an orchid that climbed and also was amazingly vigorous. Within a short amount of time, it had branched and covered the trunk of the tree with its fragile and elegant leaves, and protected by the tree, the orchid grew more until finally it took the form a woman lying in the embrace of her lover.
• One day the orchid became covered with small flowers and the whole area was filled with an exquisite aroma. Attracted to the pleasant smell, the priests and the pueblo came to observe, and no one doubted that the blood of the young lovers had transformed into the tree and the climbing orchid.
• To their surprise, the beautiful little flowers also transformed into large, thin fruits. When the fruits matured, they released a sweet, subtle perfume whose essence invoked the innocent soul of Bright Star at Sunrise and the most exotic fragrances.
• This is how the vanilla was born, the one that is called "Caxixanath" (Recondite Flower), which is a sacred plant and a divine offering in Totonac temples.

1.2 Cultivation Methods

Vanilla is a hemi-epiphytic orchid that in cultivation needs a tree to provide physical support, shade, and organic material.

In Mexico, vanilla is cultivated in different settings:

• in environments similar to the natural habitat, i.e. a forest composed of mostly secondary vegetation ("acahual"), which is the "traditional" style;
• intercropped with other crops such as coffee or orange;
• "intensively", with Erythrina sp. or Gliricidia sepium as support trees; and
• "intensively", in shade houses.

1.2.1 "Traditional"/Acahual

Acahual refers to a secondary forest or fallow that is regenerating, in many cases following maize cultivation. These sites are where vanilla is primarily cultivated, and are very similar to the natural habitat of the species. Over 90% of vanilla growers, mostly from indigenous groups, use this setting, which is almost always less than 1 ha.

Species commonly encountered in acahual are used as support trees for vanilla. They include: "laurel" (Litcea glaucescens), "pata de vaca" (Bahuinia divaricata), "cojón de gato" (Tabernaemontana sp.), "cacahuapaxtle" or "balletilla" (Hamelia erecta), and "capulín" (Eugenia capuli), among others (Curti-Diaz 1995). A relatively low density of vanilla plants is cultivated without irrigation and with minimal overseeing. Consequently, yields are low, varying between 50 and 500 kg of green vanilla/ha, with an average yield of 200 kg/ha.

This "traditional" style of cultivation is also used where vanilla is intercropped with coffee, where the vanilla benefits from the abundant organic matter and shade typical of such cafetales. Support trees in this setting are trees that are used to provide shade to the coffee, such as Inga sp., or are species introduced to the site, such as Erythrina sp.

The advantage of the coffee-vanilla production system is that the grower diversifies his/her economic activities, obtaining two products from one site.

Establishing a "traditional" vainillal requires an initial investment of around $2,000 USD/ha, with maintenance costs typically totaling $1,500 USD per year.

1.2.2 Intensive System...