Ceylon Cold Stores lauded for efforts to nurture locally vanilla industry

Sunil C. Perera in Colombo
The Kandy Vanilla Growers’ Association (KVGA) recently felicitated Ceylon Cold Stores at it 08th anniversary celebrations, in recognition of its efforts to nurture and promote Sri Lanka’s vanilla industry. Present on the occasion were, President of Ceylon Cold Stores Ltd Jith Goonarathna, Vice President of Ceylon Cold Stores Ltd Neil Samarasinghe and several other officials from the KVGA.

President of the Kandy Vanilla Growers’ Association Muthubandara Madugalla said that in today’s profit-oriented corporate world, it was encouraging to see how CCS was actively involved in uplifting and developing the local vanilla industry, and also using locally grown produce in its ice creams.

“When our members initially went into mass scale production, we did not know anything about vanilla processing techniques. It was the personnel from CCS who patiently taught us the finer points and even went a step further by purchasing our entire produce. The friendly relationship that exists between CCS and the members of our association has grown into one of strength and mutual respect”.

“The fact that CCS has taken its Elephant House Ice Cream to the world is also an endorsement of the quality of locally grown vanilla beans. We do not use artificial fertilisers and insecticides. This is also an industry suited to both the young and the old especially women. It empowers them and gives them a good and steady source of income”, Madugalla added.

President of Ceylon Cold Stores Ltd Jith Goonarathna said that the benefits of this project are manifold. “Firstly there is a considerable saving in valuable foreign exchange. We buy the locally produced and processed beans to extract vanilla essence and therefore do not need to import. A burgeoning industry also means employment for hundreds of people and thus a change in their quality of lives. We consider this a national responsibility and are committed to uplifting Sri Lanka’s vanilla bean industry”

100% natural vanilla essence is a key ingredient in the world renowned Elephant House Vanilla Ice Cream. A project to extract essence from processed vanilla beans was first initiated at its factory in Ranala, Kaduwela in 2002. This proving feasible, CCS then turned to the Sri Lankan farmer in its efforts to extract vanilla from locally grown and processed vanilla beans. Local vanilla cultivation had, until then, been promoted by the National Agri Business Council. The national yield was 30 kilos in 2002.

CCS identified the Kandy Vanilla Growers Association (KVGA), a small group of approximately 30 farmers who were involved in vanilla production, as partners in the revival of the local vanilla industry. With the assurance that the CCS will buy the total vanilla bean production, the KVGA went on a recruitment drive to enlist local farmers. Today, six years later, a total of 2500 farmers are engaged in the profitable cultivation of vanilla in the Central Province in Matale, Kandy, Kurunegala, Kegalle and Nuwara Eliya. It has also proved to be an ideal home garden crop.

“In addition to providing assistance to farmers, the KVGA also buys the raw beans at a pre-guaranteed price, processes and cures the beans and supplies the processed beans to CCS for extraction. Of the 5000 kilos produced annually, 3000 kilos are produced for CCS. This in turn yields 600 kilos of processed beans which are sold by the farmers to CCS at Rs. 5500/- per kilo. The Association plans to increase its production capacity to 1000 kilos of processed beans and thus meet the total CCS requirement in the very near future”, Madugalla added.