Vanilla boom provides sweet deal for Choco's farmers

As he wandered around a corner of his land, Luilly Murillo González stopped and leaned down to examine a twisting green vine.

- Inigo Alexander

He spotted four budding flowers, early indications that he will soon harvest his prized product: vanilla.

"What joy! What damn joy!" he said, a smile spreading across his face.

"Growing vanilla requires a lot of love.

You have to be enamoured of the crop, passionate about it." Murillo González has 300 vanilla plants and is clearing more land to expand his plantation, which began with just 50 plants in 2019.

His small vanilla farm is located in El Valle, Colombia, hidden amid the dense greenery of the Chocó province, which covers much of the country's lush Pacific coast.

Chocó is Colombia's most impoverished region and has long suffered from state neglect, dwindling infrastructure, limited economic opportunities and the presence of armed groups and illicit trade.

Yet, vanilla - the world's secondmost expensive spice after saffron - has emerged as a lifeline. Farmers say one kilogram of dried vanilla pods can sell for up to 2,500,000 Colombian pesos (about $580) - more than 100 times the standard price for a kilogram of tuna in El Valle.

The global vanilla market was estimated to be worth about $292bn in 2023 and is predicted to grow to around $441bn by 2032.