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* Ramena river and Ambatra river flow into the Sambirano river
== Samibirano Valley ==
* big flood in 2004 and 2005 destroyed many plantations (about 600ha)
* rain, river washed sand from the mountains into the valley - result of erosion - no fertile soil anymore, just sand - not possible to grow cocoa
* many families moved away from the valley
* today many farmers move out of fear of a new flood to the higher regions to farm rice and come back to the lower regions in the dry season to farm cocoa
* Millot's farm has been affected by the flood as well - Millot is now forced to buy cocoa from farmers (only best quality through Millot for Nespresso - 90kg wet cocoa for 1,000,000 Ariary)
* farm and process the cocoa after regulations (farming, fermentation) to ensure a good quality cocoa
* buy dry beans from independent farmers for a fixed, fair price
* uses zebu shit as organic fertiliser
* works with his son and wive on plantation
* sells dry cocoa beans to ADAPS for a fair (fixed) price (about 1,600 Ariary for 1kg dry beans??? not sure about price)
== Gerard Zafilaza ==
* president of ADAPS cooperation in Mivoatra
* Commune Rural de Benavony, district Ambanja 203
* 1ha, divided in 2 parts
* 7km from Ambanja (we stopped with the bike their and talked to his wife)
== Issouf ==
* +261 (0)33 29 13 275
* president of ADAPS cooperation in New Antanambao, next to the river Ambahatra
* about 800 people live in Old and New Ananambao (before the flood 2000 and more)
* New Ananambao is located closer to the mountains (very small village with shop, everybody is farmer: rice, casava, zebu, cocoa, no electricity, no running water, phone connection only Air Tel, cinema evenings with Issouf's TV on the veranda powered by generator, bathing, dish washing, laundry all in river Ambahatra, self-sufficient farmers, in nearby village (2km) 2 schools)
* 2ha new plantation since 2009 (old was destroyed by the flood, no soil anymore, just sand) - mixed with few older cocoa trees
* cocoa trees, coffee, banana, vanilla
* grows all 3 types of cocoa
* part of MAZAVA cooperative (in the south) - produce 3t cocoa a year
* 3 generations of cocoa farming: father - Issouf - son
* used to grow vanilla, today only cocoa
* cocoa trees flower and fruit all year round, best season starts in May (dry season)
* ants pollinate the flowers
* cocoa grows best at an average temperature of 25C/30C
* young branches need to be cut off from the stem, they steel energy and the flower can not really develop
* old trees are cut 60/70cm from the ground - new stem will grow next to it
* 3 main problems which affect the harvest:
1) thieves steel pods, sometimes even unripe fruits, in the night
2) zebus (local cattle) eat fruits and/or rub their bodies against the stem and thereby ruin the flowers and smaller fruits
3) nocturnal lemurs like to eat the fruits 4) insects eat young cocoa fruits from inside (no spraying, otherwise not bio)<br><br>
* very important is the shifting of the beans to add necessary oxygen for the chemical process
* 6-7 days of fermentation usually in a 3-level fermentation devise - every 2nd day the fermenting beans are shuffled from the higher box into the lower box (easy mixing) * '''drying''' of the beans in the sun for 1-2 weeks, 5 days in dry season - 10 days in rainy season
* drying makes the beans durable and storeable
