Which of these countries is the world's chief vanilla producer by using the Albius' manual pollination method?

In 1841, Edmond Albius (aged 12 yrs) invented a technique for pollinating vanilla orchids. This revolutionized the cultivation of vanilla. Albius used a thin stick or blade of grass to lift the rostellum, the flap that separated the male anther from the female stigma, and then with thumbs, smeared the sticky pollen from the anther over the stigma.

This manual pollination method is still used today, as nearly all vanilla is pollinated by hand. After Albius' discovery French colonists used his technique in Madagascar to cultivate vanilla, and till today Madagascar remains world's chief vanilla producer. In mid 19th century before this revolution, the production of vanilla was not more than thousand vanilla beans as a result of the pollination by bees. Now, the world is producing more than a million beans.

Vanilla is a flavouring derived from the orchids of the genus Vanilla, primarily obtained from pods of the Mexican species. Three major species of vanilla currently are grown globally, of which V. planifolia, grown on Madagascar. The majority of the world's vanilla is the V. planifolia species, known as Madagascar vanilla. Vanilla is widely used in both commercial and domestic baking, perfume manufacture and aromatherapy.