The National Museum of History commemorated the 155th anniversary of the introduction of vanilla in Seychelles with a talk, tree planting and unveiling of commemorative plaque yesterday.
The curator of the National Museum, Bella Rose, explained that the talk is to sensitise the public in general, especially the youth, on the preservation and conservation of our historical and cultural heritage.
“The talk is to upgrade their knowledge about the importance that vanilla had for Seychelles during the first half of the 20 century. Vanilla was an important pillar of our agricultural economy that brought a lot of export revenues and it gave livelihood to a lot of people of Seychelles. Today, there is a renewed interest for the exploitation of our traditional products such as cinnamon and the history lecture presentation also explains how our vanilla industry could be revived and could become a lucrative business for private landowners and future entrepreneurs.”
The event started with a talk by historian Tony Mathiot who gave a comprehensive history of vanilla in Seychelles.
Mr Mathiot explained that vanilla is among the oldest of spices. It originates from the tropical rainforests of the east coast of Mexico and dates back to the Mayan civilisation of the 15th century. The Aztec people cultivated vanilla which they used to flavour their chocolate drinks with, and even made medicine from it. Vanilla is a liana of the orchid family. It is only in south-eastern Mexico, Guatemala and other parts of Central America that vanilla is pollinated by bees and by humming birds.
“In the early 17th century, travellers introduced vanilla in Europe. In 1812, vanilla was introduced in Reunion and Mauritius from a botanical garden in Paris. It was on a large plantation at Bellevue on the island of Reunion that a 12-year-old African slave boy, Edmond Albius (1829-1880), discovered the artificial method of pollinating vanilla flowers. This would throughout the entire 19th century bring massive wealth to landowners of the Indian Ocean,” narrated Mr Mathiot.
He noted that vanilla was introduced in Seychelles in 1866 and the first export was 60 kilos in 1877 valued at R1,195. In 1883, 2,776 kilos were exported. Land owners, appreciating the economic prosperity of vanilla production, allocated many acres of their properties for its cultivation. The year 1899 saw a record year for vanilla – 41,835 kilos valued at R1,338,720.
“Indeed, vanilla cultivation proved to be a veritable windfall for the agricultural economy of the Seychelles. Between 1893 and 1903, the harvest was 454,379 kilos – more vanilla than all the other British colonies put together. In 1907, 70 tonnes were exported. Between 1960 – 1964, which was the time when vanilla growers were ceasing production for the export market because of the cheaper synthetic vanillin that most countries were buying, a total of 21,972 tonnes of vanilla were exported for the value of R1,103,399. Between 1966 and 1970 the relatively meager amount of 8,191 kilos were exported for the value of R295,000,” stated Mr Mathiot.
Willy André, a former forestry and agricultural officer, explained how during his time at the department of forestry, with the management, they tried to revive vanilla.
“We even contacted the authorities in Madagascar to see how we can do this and we also tried to find out if ever reviving vanilla was viable for the country. At that moment in time, vanilla production was at its minimum.”
Tessa Fanny, an entrepreneur from La Digue, also shared her experience in cultivating and processing vanilla from Seychelles.
The event concluded with the planting of vanilla plants by two participants of the educational programme at the museum and two students from the Seychelles Institute of Agriculture and Horticulture in the museum garden near the Pierre Poivre Bust. The principal secretary for Culture, Cecile Kalebi, also unveiled a commemorative plaque.
The event was graced by the presence of the Mayor of Victoria, David Andre.
From 11am to 3.30pm, the public was invited to view documentaries on how to plant and grow vanilla, how to pollinate the vanilla orchid step by step and vanilla plantation at l’Union Estate la Digue.
The accompanying photos show some highlights of yesterday’s event.
Source: Seychelles Nation