80% of the world’s vanilla comes from Madagascar. Producing it is a highly specialist form of agriculture. Vanilla is the only edible food that comes from orchids, and orchids are jungle primadonnas of the highest order. It’s not easy work, and it’s not well paid, despite the very high value of vanilla to the global food trade.
Voice of Vanilla is a film-making project to document the lives of vanilla farmers. It’s a work in progress, and the team are currently raising funds to make a feature film. I hope it comes together, as I really like the direction taken in this little clip. It’s hands-off documentary making, letting us in on people being themselves. As it often the case with people, it’s ordinary and extraordinary in equal measure.
Find out more about the team and the film at the Voice of Vanilla website, and there’s more on vanilla in this previous post.
The Earthbound Report 