Chicony: a vanilla flavor inflated
Sticks vanilla flavor inflated, sold by Ibrahim at Chicony, the pride of this small town in south-west of Mayotte.
Chicony is the smallest municipality of Mayotte and also one of the oldest, it seems. Established well before 1841, the official date of the arrival of the French on the island. It includes two villages, Chicon and Soho - just above Sada, on the west coast of Grande-Terre. It speaks primarily the Malagasy language, the Shibushi, not Chimaoré, the local language. Almost all families are, indeed, from Madagascar (and more specifically of ethnic "Sakalava"), often settled here for several generations.
Like many villages Mahorais, agriculture is the foundation of economic life. With a specialty vanilla.
The first village is spread over two separate areas: on the edge of the ocean along the north shore of the beautiful bay ... chicony and high, overlooking the same bay.
Between the two, a road which climbs in switchbacks severely. Then, farther north, Soho, a place and a small road that leads down to the vast sandy beach clear of the same name (Google Map reference: 13), surrounded by trees - mainly badamiers - and planted a few fares.
Ibrahim wished shop at the east entrance of Chicon (Ward Moussa Vita), proudly displaying his diplomas obtained in support of the Salon de l'Agriculture in Paris. Vanilla is its beautiful, fragrant and puffed. Quality: Bourbon. It expects the buyer, stored in a beautiful wooden trunks or over the counter in small bundles or twisted mini-sculptures.
Fields vanilla Ibrahim are perched in the highlands of Apandzo on another municipality, any closer, as Ouangani (Google Map reference: 71). In January, vanilla pods hanging on the vines, twisted themselves around their guardians, are a beautiful bright green, fleshy. They grow in the midst of tall grass to retain moisture for their development. In March, all is weeded. A month of work at least! Then in May, the new harvest begins. Only after various stages of drying as vanilla is sold ...
Every gesture of the grower of vanilla, Ibrahim has learned from a meeting authorized by the Cooperative vanilla (installed today Cocon) during two seasons. This usefully supplemented what he had learned from his father. 500 feet as it passed him, he went over 5000!
Today, however, the number of vanilla farmers on the island is counted on the fingers of one hand and the harvest is low. Mainly because of competition from Madagascar vanilla and the other islands of the Comoros, where wages of agricultural workers are very much lower than those of Mayotte. Thus vanilla Chicon is it sold ... 100 times more expensive! 1 euro per kg for Malagasy vanilla, 100 for vanilla Mahoran (for wholesale). Unable to export with such a gap. Only issue: the sale to tourists who visit Mayotte and residents of the island in the lagoon. Who will not be disappointed, far from it.
Today Ibrahim does not complain, his case survives: it just needs to find employees who help only because he can not get there. One example: 4000 to pollinate flowers, by hand, one by one!
Note: This report, produced by the same author (journalist and director of publishing the website on which you are), is published in part in Mayotte magazine.
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