A Visit to Kebun Vanilla at Kinarut
Last week, on the third day of Aidilfitri, a friend asked me if I am interested to visit Kebun Vanilla. I remember a very long time ago when the world is in shortage of vanilla, and we could tap into that huge market demand. It was either 2003 or 2007, the year when I have full of ideas. So instinctively I straight away said yes to the invitation. Kebun Vanilla is located at Kinarut, off Jalan Stesen TV Tampasak, about a 20-minute drive from Kota Kinabalu. You can also visit their website, Facebook Page and Instagram.
How did Kebun Vanilla Start Out?
According to the owner, he started a trial plot on his 1-acre land in the middle of 2009, after attending a Vanilla Planting training in 2008, organized by the Sabah Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. Though a few that attended the training had given up planting, he just persevered until he became the only vanilla producer in Sabah, with multiple orders from businesses in Sabah and abroad.
What is Vanilla Actually?
Vanilla is a type of spice from an orchids plant, of the Vanilla genus. It only blooms one day, for a few hours in a year. This makes it a short window of opportunity to do manual pollination because there are no suitable insets in Sabah that can do it. Once you have started planting, it would take about three years before could see the flowers start blooming. These flowers will turn into vanilla pods after pollination and you could harvest them in about a year. These pods will then be harvested and dried to make vanilla essence.
How Kebun Vanilla Used to Cultivate Vanilla
When I first get to know about vanilla cultivation, with the limited resources at that time, being a species of orchids, you need to plant a tree that acts as a place for the orchids to support on, and as shades from the sun. Visiting the garden confirms what I know back then. But using this method, from what I learned, does not gives you better yield in vanilla pods. So the owner tried experimenting with different methods of planting to get more and better pods.
How Kebun Vanilla Cultivate Vanilla Now
Nowadays, they don’t need to plant a tree for the orchids to support on. It is now cultivated under shades, with wood or steel frame for the orchids to support on. With this method, the cultivator could control the amount of water, fertiliser and light from the sun. Each of the components needed to be controlled if you want to get better pods yield.
Continous Research and Development
The owner is still actively doing his own R&D, trying out different types of cultivation methods, to gain better vanilla pods yield. He brought us to his R&D plot for this. It was his intention to teach to fellow Sabahan from what he gets from his own R&D, who are interested in vanilla cultivation. He also conducts courses for interested parties.
Problem with Cultivating Vanilla?
With most cultivation, you will face with issues. You just need to identify these issues early and make the necessary action. One of it will be fungal attack like these.
The Future for me?
I can see that this can still be my little project to start. I am interested in indoors cultivation. The owner told me that it’s possible but will be very expensive on the initial capital. Since I’m already involved in indoor vertical farming, might as well I start this a pet project of mine.
I think, if you have a piece of land that is still unused, this might be something to think about, and putting that piece of land to good use. Vanilla is still, as far as I know, is still in demand all over the world. And the tropics are the best place to cultivate them.
