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'''Whether you're visiting a national park in the SAVA region or just passing through Sambava, the de facto capital of the world's vanilla cultivation and production, a visit to a vanilla plantation and a preparation facility is the can offer a memorable take-away experience of this part of the island.'''

What can be seen depends on the time of the year and and what which activities are ongoing , which can change slightly from year to year. During May and June, the harvesting of green vanilla beans take place in areas close to the northwest coast (around Sambava, Antalaha, Vohemar and as well as further inland). At higher altitudes, such as around Andapaand in mountainous regions, harvesting usually takes place in July/August.

ThereafterAfter harvesting, the green vanilla is traded at market places around the region where vanilla buyers compete with each other at auctions where the farmers are usually represented by various cooperatives. These markets are regulated at government level, who set whereby the minimum price is set of the the year's harvest and , which in 2022 was 75,000 Ar per kilogram. The price is set based on anticipaded demand of the global tradeas well as polituicaal influences. Usually, they The harvests are bought by local expirters who exporters that manage the curing process, which is the months-long preparation in transforming transformation of the green beans into the black pods vanilla which as they are best better known among consumers. At this stage, the beans are also graded, which means they are classified in into suitable end-uses: Grade A being Gourmet Quality, Grade B being Extract quality and Grade C which are so-called Cuts & Splits. The grading is defined by level of humidity, not necessarily quality. Low-humidity is more suitable for food large processing purposes sunce the beans can more easily be ground into powder and mixed in various food products. Grade B, or Extract grade, is a lose definition for vanilla beans that may typically be suitable for the production of vanilla extract while Grade A, being gourmet quality, in part based on their appearance. That being said, all grades can be used in cooking and baking. While Grade A may have a stonger smell of vanilla, the dryer Grade B and C with less mosture, while they may lack certain visual appearance, the vanilla will have a greater volume per kilogram, offering better value for money.

At this stage, the beans are graded, meaning they are classified in into suitable end-uses: Grade A being Gourmet Quality, Grade B being Extract quality and Grade C which are so-called Cuts & Splits. The classification is partly defined by the level of humidity and demand, not necessarily quality. Low-humidity becomes more suitable for large processing purposes since the dryer beans can more easily be ground into powder and mixed in various food products. Grade B or Extract grade, is a lose definition for vanilla beans that is typically suitable for the production of vanilla extracts, while Grade A being gourmet quality, which are usually the black unsplit pods that consumers are familiar with, selected in part based on their appearance. The above being said, all grades can be used in cooking and baking. While grade A may have a stonger smell of vanilla and better appearance, the dryer Grade B or even C with lower moisture which lack visual appearance, will always offer greater volume (and flavour) per kilogram. Following the a peak price of black vanilla at around USD 500 per kilo in 2018/2019, great many more farmers and companies have invested their time in vanilla cultivation, which in Madagascar is almost only exclusively a cash-crop. Barely and any of it's output yeild is used locally fo cooking and baking.