Handbook of Vanilla Science and Technology

Barranco Village, located on the coast just north of the mouth of the Temash River, is a small Garifuna community, established between 1820 and 1830 (Wilk 1997), and at its peak was home to approximately 600 people. Because no recollection today exists with the elders of the community (who are only fourth, or in some cases the fifth, generation of Garifuna people residing in Barranco) regarding vanilla cultivation, it may be said with certainty that the vanilla plants are not relic cultigens of Garifuna agriculture. The next logical question is whether these plants are evidence of past land use by either Kek’chi or Mopan Maya. Once again the spoken record denies this possibility. Taking one more step backwards through history, it bears considering if these plants attest to colonial era vanilla cultivation by the Manche Chol. The evidence suggests that this is not the case. In other areas previously inhabited by the Maya, pottery shards and house mounds are to be found. Some coastal areas of southern Belize are rife with these sorts of evidence of historical Maya occupation. Present-day Barranco residents do not find these archaeological records of previous Maya occupation, which would indicate that the Garifuna people were the first settlers of this land. That suggests that these vanillas, found so abundantly in the bush just a mile from human settlement, are in fact wild.

Within the Golden Stream Corridor Preserve (GSCP) there are many populations of V. planifolia, V. odorata, and likely other Vanilla spp. as well, the dissimilarity between leaves being more than could be expected from mere phenotypic difference. The buffer communities for the GSCP are well-established Kek’chi and Mopan Maya communities. Corn is central to Maya culture, and corn-based agriculture, as practiced in southern Belize, requires a large amount of land. Not only does corn supply less calories per unit of land than most other staples, but corn cultivation quickly depletes the soil, necessitating significant fallow periods after only a few harvests. As such, large tracts of land are required to support a Mayan community. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that informal verbal investigation has not turned up any leads on wild vanilla plants existing in the areas surrounding the GSCP.

Both V. planifolia and V. odorata were found in the community lands immediately adjacent to Jordan Village. While corn cultivation is a mainstay of the agriculture practiced by community members of Jordan Village, some of the land near the village is unsuitable for corn cultivation due to stony outcroppings or its low-lying nature. Therefore, these lands are untouched despite their proximity to settlement. In 2005, dozens of individual vanilla plants still survived within 5 minutes walk of the village. It must be noted that while Jordan is a recently established village (Wilk 1997), its location on the Moho River puts it in the vicinity of cacao cultivation that was remarked upon by Dominican friar Joseph Delgado when he journeyed to the area in 1677 (Thompson, 1988; McNeil, 2006).

Private parcels of land abutting the road that joins Punta Gorda Town with Boom Creek Village (also on the Moho River) commonly host a variety of vanilla species. More V. odorata has been found in these vicinities than any other species.

4.1.9 Possibility of wild superior or useful genotypes/species

Preliminary evidence suggesting spontaneous natural hybridization in vanilla has been documented from Belize (Lubinsky et al. 2008b). Natural vanilla hybrids could have superior pollination rates, aroma, or vigor. Intentional hybridization could result in further potential for the vanilla industry by using these genetic resources to breed in traits of particular agronomic interest such as higher vanillin content, indehiscent fruit, and resistance to pathogens such as Fusarium. It could also help by inserting some genetic diversity into the plant stock currently utilized to initiate cultivation, which is generally acknowledged to derive from a very limited gene pool (Soto Arenas 1999; Lubinsky, 2003; Lubinsky et al. 2008a). However, in the United States and Europe, governmental regulations restrict the use of vanilla products in food to the two species V. planifolia and V. tahitensis. There are no such restrictions regarding the use of vanilla products for fragrances.

4.1.10 Dr Pesach Lubinsky's research in Belize and regarding Vanilla tahitensis