Where does vanilla grow?

By Maxime·Updated 6 October 2026

Vanilla grows in hot, humid places roughly within 20 degrees of the equator. It comes from Mexico and Central America, but today Madagascar grows the most: about 42 % of the world’s vanilla in 2023, ahead of Indonesia (about 24 %), Mexico and Papua New Guinea (about 7 % each) and China (about 6 %), according to FAO figures. Smaller amounts come from Uganda, India, the Comoros, Réunion, French Polynesia and Thailand.

The countries that grow vanilla

Vanilla planifolia is native to the forests of Mexico and Central America, where the Totonac people of today’s Veracruz grew it long before it reached Europe. Spanish ships carried it across the Atlantic in the 16th century. In the 1800s, French planters took it to Réunion, and from there to Madagascar and the Comoros.

Together, these five countries grow more than four out of five vanilla beans in the world. Madagascar has been the largest producer for over a decade, which is why a single bad season there moves vanilla prices everywhere.

Figures: UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) production data for 2023, as summarised in Choices, the magazine of the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association.

The climate vanilla needs

Vanilla is a tropical orchid that climbs trees or posts in the shade. It needs:

• Warmth all year: roughly 21–32 °C, and never frost.
• Rain: about 1,500 to 3,000 mm a year, spread over most of the year.
• A short dry spell of one to three months, which pushes the vines to flower.
• Filtered light, from taller trees or shade cloth. Full sun scorches the leaves.
• Loose, well-drained soil rich in organic matter. The roots stay near the surface and rot in standing water.

Outside Mexico and Central America, it also needs people. No insect pollinates vanilla reliably there, so growers pollinate every flower by hand, on the one morning it is open.

Can vanilla grow in Thailand?

Yes. Thailand sits inside the vanilla belt: Bangkok is at about 13.7° N, it is hot and humid for most of the year, and the dry season from December to February gives the vines the dry spell they need before they flower.

Vanilla is still a rare crop in Thailand. The best-known plantings are in the northern highlands, where the Royal Project Foundation grows Vanilla planifolia in greenhouses at its Khun Wang station in Chiang Mai province. Thai researchers have published work on growing and curing those beans, including how long to condition them for the most vanillin.

Our farm will be a different experiment: a small family plot in the middle of Bangkok, with the vines trained along wires at chest height and every flower pollinated by hand in season. The farm page shows how it will work, step by step.

Questions

Which country produces the most vanilla?

Madagascar. It grew about 42 % of the world’s vanilla in 2023, close to twice as much as Indonesia, the second-largest producer.

Where does vanilla originally come from?

From Mexico and Central America. Vanilla planifolia grows wild there, and the Totonac people of today’s Veracruz grew it long before it reached Europe.

Is there Thai vanilla?

Yes, though very little. Vanilla is grown at the Royal Project Foundation’s station in Chiang Mai province and on a few small private farms. Ours, in Bangkok, is still being built.

Why does vanilla only grow in the tropics?

It is a tropical orchid: it needs warmth all year, high humidity and plenty of rain, and frost kills it. In cooler countries it can live in a heated greenhouse or as a houseplant, but it rarely flowers there.

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