RENTAK Timur Sdn Bhd, a supplier of vanilla seedlings and fertiliser, is proposing to landowners that planting vanilla on a commercial scale can be a profitable business.
"With just RM100,000, you plant 400 vanilla plants in one hectare, and after two years, it'll start to bear fruit and you can harvest the pods when it ripens eight months later.
"We promise a buyback of the raw vanilla at between RM30 and RM50 per kg," group general manager and shareholder Syed Isa Syed Alwi said.
He explained that the RM100,000 investment includes salary for the workers at the plantation.
His vanilla seedlings will be sold to prospective planters at between RM6.50 and RM10 per plant.
Rentak Timur's 50ha nursery is in Bentong, Pahang.
"Our nursery, when completed, will be able to produce up to 200,000 vanilla seedlings per month," he said.
Vanilla, belonging to the same family of the orchid plant, is a parasite. It thrives best on sandy and loamy soil.
Vanilla is usually used in flavourings in confectioneries and sweets. In the pharmaceutical sector, vanilla is also used in medicinal syrups.
"There're only 14 buyers in the world and we're in talks with companies from the US, Europe and Japan to ensure a regular supply through this buyback scheme with planters in Malaysia," he told reporters at a briefing in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
He claims that Rentak Timur is the first Malaysian company to plant vanilla on a commercial scale for the export market.
Syed Isa said that Rentak Timur invested RM1 million in research and development of planting vanilla on a commercial scale.
Adapted from "Business Times", 17 February, 2006
