Why #vanilla in #Madagascar is nicknamed "green gold." #vanillabeans #soexpensive

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Subtitles (27)

0:00When Business Insider filmed in

0:01Madagascar, Razafin Salama, a vanilla

0:04farmer, showed us how he pollinates each

0:06flower by hand.

0:16Vanilla orchids take two to 5 years to

0:19flower, but Razafin Lama has only a few

0:22hours to pollinate them before the

0:24flowers wither. After pollination,

0:27farmers have to wait another 6 to9

0:29months before the flowers bear green

0:31vanilla pods, which happens only once a

0:33year in Madagascar.

0:36This laborintensive, yearslong process

0:39makes vanilla so pricey that it's earned

0:41the nickname green gold.

0:44Labor is just one factor.

0:48A single weather event can also shake

0:50global prices.

0:52In March 2017, Cyclone Anawo tore

0:56through Madagascar's vanilla region,

0:58damaging about 30% of the crop. At the

1:01time, prices were already around $500 a

1:04kilo. Within months, vanilla surged to

1:07nearly $600 a kilo as the cyclone

1:10further tightened supply. And when

1:13global vanilla prices rise, so does the

1:16risk of theft.

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