Mouth-watering vanilla icecream

Guwahati, April 25: In acre after acre of fertile land in Goalpara district, a vanilla-flavoured dream is turning into reality.

Launched by the Spices Board, the project is set to catapult Assam into the league of major producers of vanilla, the most expensive spice in the world after saffron.

Natural vanillin, the vanilla extract, is the world?s best known flavouring agent and goes into ice-cream, chocolates, bakery products, puddings, pharmaceuticals, liquors and perfumes.

The Spices Board recently airlifted 2,000 metres of vanilla vines from its facility in Kerala to Assam. ?The soil and the climate here are perfect for vanilla farming. We are determined to tap the potential of vanilla farming in the state by providing all possible help to the farmers,? said T.K. Kesavan Nair, deputy director (development) of the Spices Board.

Nair said as many as 5,000 cuttings from the 2,000 metres of vanilla vines imported from Kerala had already been distributed among 50 farmers from Agia, in Goalpara district. ?In three years? time, they can start harvesting vanilla.?

Farmers in Agia took to vanilla cultivation a few years ago and some of the vineyards are ready for harvest.

The Spices Board is planning to turn India into the main source of high-quality vanilla by 2007.

Vanilla belongs to the orchidaceae family, but only three of the 110-odd species are commercially cultivated.

Nair said the Spices Board had entrusted The Energy Research Institute with the task of developing tissue-cultured vines in the Northeast and distributing the hardened ones to voluntary agencies.

Vanilla thrives in warm and moist climates, gently sloping land and light porous soil. A good drainage system is required. At present, the price of vanilla oscillates between Rs 200 and Rs 300 per kg.

Nair said production must increase for the state to be able to cater to the global market. ?Buyers will be asking for huge quantities. Some individuals and organisations in the state have been in the business for sometime but it is still in the development phase.? Tea gardens are also taking a interest in growing vanilla as a second crop.