Editorial
Insights
Original, sourced research on Tanzania's commodity markets — production, trade, quality and origins.
September 26, 2026 · Origins
Kagera’s Vanilla Decade: How a Coffee Region Became Tanzania’s Vanilla Country
The country's vanilla boom didn't happen on Zanzibar's spice trail — it happened in banana-and-coffee villages on the shore of Lake Victoria, and the same villages…
September 26, 2026 · Quality
The Twelve-Hour Flower: Hand Pollination and the Labor Behind Every Tanzanian Vanilla Pod
No vine in Tanzania sets a pod without a human hand — a technique invented by an enslaved twelve-year-old in…
September 26, 2026 · Data Story
The Missing Tonnes: What Tanzania’s Vanilla Export Data Doesn’t Show
Tanzania's agriculture ministry reports vanilla production in the thousands of tonnes. Formal customs data shows exports of barely sixteen. Both…
September 25, 2026 · Data Story
The Same Harvest, Two Prices: What Trade Data Reveals About Tanzania’s Vanilla Market
Customs records show Tanzania's tiny vanilla trade splitting into two starkly different price tiers after Madagascar's 2023 crash — a…