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'''Sambirano is an area in the north west northwest of Madagascar, which is especially known for the production of high quality cocoa cacao, also known as the "green gold" of Sambirano. The name also refers to the Sambirano Valley as well as the [[Sambirano River that flows ]] which runs from the foothills of the [[Tsaratanana Massif]] into the Ampasindava Bay where it joins with the Ramena riverRiver, south of [[Ambanja]].'''

[[File:Sambirano 091.jpg|600px]] Due to the proximity of the Tsaratanana mountain range and trade winds, a particular micro-climate occurs in the Sambirano region. During the rainy season, the river floods and deposits extremely fertile alluvia along its river banks, providing ideal conditions for many types of crops, especially cacao. {| class="imageTable"|-|colspan="3" | [[File:Sambirano 101.jpg|600px]]|-|[[File:Sambirano 102.jpg|196px]]|align="center"|[[File:Sambirano 103.jpg|196px]]|align="right"|[[File:Sambirano 104.jpg|196px]]|} All three varieties of cacao grow throughout the year along the river banks of Sambirano, but with two peak seasons: June/July and October/November. The river is divided in two parts, the upper Sambirano (upstream) and the lower Sambirano (downstream). <!-- Harvesting between from ... to ... is done along the upstream part and from ... to ... along the downstream part. --> {| class="imageTable"|-|colspan="3" | [[File:Sambirano 086.jpg|600px]]|-|[[File:Sambirano 016.jpg|196px]]|align="center"|[[File:Sambirano 026.jpg|196px]]|align="right"|[[File:Sambirano 084.jpg|196px]]|-|[[File:Ambanja_034.jpg|196px]]|align="center"|[[File:Sambirano_001.jpg|196px]]|align="right"|[[File:Ambanja_035.jpg|196px]]|} Malagasy cacao derives its special characteristics from the unique climate and soil along the Sambirano River. The cacao harvest grown in the region can contain up to 10% Criollo beans (cacao grown elsewhere typically contain about 5% Criollo). Cacao harvested from Sambirano is especially suited for high quality, low bitterness dark chocolate and is used by premium quality [[Madagascar Chocolate|Malagasy chocolate]] brands such as [[Chocolaterie Robert]], [[Cinagra]] and [[Chocolaterie Colbert]]. Sambirano cacao is also exported by numerous[[chocolate makers using Madagascar cocoa]] in their products. <googlemap version="0.9" lat="-13.688688" lon="48.450737" type="satellite" zoom="12" controls="large" style="width:100%;max-width:600px;">

Due to the proximity of the Tsaratanana mountain range and trade winds, a particular microclimateoccurs in the [[File:Sambirano region. During the rainy season, the river floods and deposits extremelyfertile alluvia along its river banks, which provides ideal conditions for many types of crops, especially cocoa033.jpg|600px]]All three varieties of cooca grow throughout the year along the river banks of Sambirano, but with two peak seasons: Juneand July, October and November. The river is divided in two parts, the upper Sambirano (upstream) and the lower Sambirano (downstream). <!-- Harvesting between from ... to ... is done along the upstream part and from ... to ... along the downstream part. -->== Additional information ==

Malagasy cocoa has special characteristics due to the particular climate and soil along the Sambirano river. The cocoa harvest grown in the region contains about 10 percent Criollo beans (cocoa grown elsewhere usually contains about five percent). Cocoa from Sambirano is generally suited for high quality, low bitterness dark chocolate used in * View all [[Madagascar Chocolate|Malagasy chocolate]] brands such as [[Chocolaterie Robert]] and [[CinagraSambirano photos]].