All for People and Quality.
Lower Sambirano Valley
Lower Sambirano Valley has vast lowlands as the Sambirano river goes towards the ocean, and medium to small-scale farmers are competing space with large estates to produce cacao, coffee, ylang-ylang, vanilla.
Thanks to alluvial deposits during rainy season, soils are deep and enriched in minerals, favoring the growth and productivity of cacao trees. However, the area is subject to higher risks of flooding and silting. To mitigate this, farmers maintain a good drainage system in their cacao plantations.
Mangabe – Single estate
Certified organic available
Lalatiana Andrianarison, known as Lala, is a young farmer in his thirties. Passionate of cacao production, he is entrusted by his brothers and sisters to be the one managing their family-owned estate of 120 ha in the Sambirano Valley. Part of his farm has been certified organic by ECOCERT and his focus in farm maintenance are the cacao plantations’ care and the cacao beans’ fermentation, resulting in unlocking the flavor potential of cacao in this region. He won the 2019 Cocoa of Excellence Gold award.
Like many medium and small-scale cacao farmers, Lala’s livelihood has been negatively affected by the international market price volatility and its limited absorption capacity.
Our goal is to help him establish sustainable partnerships with more customers to continue supporting his whole family’s livelihood and all the 77 families working with him for many more years.
- Type: single estate
- Main varieties: Trinitario (predominant) and Criollo
- Peak harvest periods: end of April to mid-June; end of September to mid-January
- Quality: large cacao beans with uniform size (<95 beans in 100g), “good fermented” grade I with <1% of slaty beans and <1% of moldy and insect-damaged beans, moisture content of 7.0-7.5%
- Flavour profile: chocolate note with fresh fruit acidity and browned fruits notes
- Certification: organic certification available (about 1/4 of the farmer's estate)
- Award: Lala won the 2019 Gold Award of Cocoa of Excellence
- Total surface: 120 ha
- Total annual production: 150 Mt of dry cacao beans
- Altitude: 20 m to 25 m
- Soil features: deep loamy sandy soil
- Shade trees: fruit trees: banana, mango, jackfruit; indigenous wood species
- Plantation care: pruning of trees, manual weeding, no fertilizer, shade management, planting of seedlings and grafting of selected varieties, tree rejuvenation
- Harvest frequency: once per week
- Fermentation: natural process, 6 to 7 days in wooden boxes, covered with jute bags
- Drying: direct sun-drying on cement patio during 7 to 10 days
- Sorting: before fermentation and after drying
- Packaging: jute bags
"We inherited our land and cacao farming skills from our grandparents and parents. They managed to raise all of us [26 children] thanks to producing cacao. We also want to continue supporting our families and the families of all the people working with us."
Lala, farmer
