Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Programme (UNDP); its GDP in 2010 was US$8.7 billion (130 on the World Bank's rank-
ing), lower than that of Afghanistan, Yemen or the Congo.
Madagascar's economy is mainly subsistence agriculture, with rice, cassava, bananas
and yam as the main food crops. The principal cash crops are coffee, vanilla, sugar cane,
lychee, cloves and cocoa, with coffee and vanilla earning a substantial percentage of for-
eign exchange. Most foreign trade is with France, the EU and the USA.
There is a small amount of manufacturing, largely restricted to agricultural products, but
the textiles industry was dealt a severe blow when Madagascar lost its eligibility for the
African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) - a legislation that allowed sub-Saharan
countries preferential access to the US market - in the wake of the political meltdown of
2009. Some 40,000 people lost their jobs as a result.
Public investment has also suffered greatly in the last few years: foreign aid represented
nearly 50% of the state's budget, but international donors have withheld all funds since the
2009 coup.
VANILLA
The vanilla plant was introduced to Madagascar from Mexico by French planta-
tion owners over the course of the 19th century. They named it
vanille
(
lavanila
in Malagasy), from the Spanish
vainilla
or 'little pod'. It is a type of climbing
orchid,
Vanila planifolia
, which attaches itself to trees. Each flower must be
hand-pollinated, which makes vanilla production extremely labour-intensive.
The vanilla seeds grow inside long pods hanging from the plant, which are col-
lected and cured in factories.
Madagascar produces about 65% to 80% of the world's vanilla. The plant
grows most abundantly in the northeastern parts of the country, particularly the
SAVA region (comprising Sambava, Andapa, Vohémar and Antalaha), where
the hot and wet climate of the coast is ideally suited for its cultivation.
Cyclone Hudah destroyed more than 20% of Madagascar's vanilla crop in
2000, causing a shortage of supply and a huge escalation in price. Combined
with the political instability of the 2002 elections and more bad weather in
2003, prices of vanilla spiked at US$500 per kilogram in 2004. Since this histor-
ic high, however, vanilla prices have remained relatively flat, at around US$30
to US$40 a kilo.
Sport
Malagasies love watching international football (soccer; the English Premier League, in
particular) and rugby (the French and European leagues, notably). For all this enthusiasm,
