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In fact, Madagascar has a long history of chocolate production, dating back to the early years of the French colonial times, 1937 to be precise. In those days, Madagascar was a major cocoa exporter to a metropolitan France. Today Madagascar's cocoa production is tiny in comparison to the Ivory Coast which produce about 38% of the world's cocoa, while almost all cocoa grown in Madagascar come from an area about 50-kilometre in radius and represent less than 1% of the world's cocoa production. The area is in a region named [[Sambirano]], which is also the name of named after a river with its source in that runs from the foothills of Madagascar's highest peakand into the Indian Ocean. The Sambirano riverbed and its surrounding cocoa plantations are enriched with nutrients in of the soil by through the occurance of annual floods. Unlike many cocoa producing regions and nationsin other countries, the area of around Sambirano is unique in that it yields a cocoa crop all year round. There is plenty of Criollo (the finest), Forastero (the most common used for bulk cocoa) and Trinitario beans (a cross between the two).

Most if not all cocoa plantations in Madagascar are operated by small and independent family-run farming businesses, who have been growing cocoa in their natural environment for generations without use of fertilisers and other mass farming techniquesin a natural environment for generations. While slave labour is commonly reported in the cocoa industry, especially in the Ivory Coast, it is non-existent in Madagascar. Much of Sambirano's cocoa grow on former fruit plantations that were in use during the French colonial period. The result is resulting a crop with a is uniquely fruity flavour that that is flavoured and naturally sweet and , especially suitable for producing non-bitter dark chocolates without use of excessive sugar contentand various unatural unnatural flavoring agents. The final product is generally rich in antioxidant flavoinoids, the healthy ingredients found in high proportions in pure Malagasy cocoa.