08Madagascar
452,000 bags (ICO 2009)In-depth country profile: production, varieties, classification, history, current situation and points still uncertain. Region: Africa.
On the “Great Island,” coffee splits between two worlds: arabica of the Highlands, a minority, and canephora of the east coast, very largely dominant. It was settlers from Réunion who introduced it, before Malagasy farmers adopted it in turn, in the middle of the 20th century.
Coffee matters to the economy, but it comes after vanilla, lychees and crustaceans. For a long time a big name in canephora, Madagascar has fallen behind other origins after a drop in quality. Some arabica plantations have since chosen the path of organic certification.
- Botanical species
- Arabica, Canephora
- Altitude
- 800 to 1,500 m
- Shade
- Fruit trees
- Harvest
- Manual (picking or stripping)
- Processing
- Dry process and wet process
- Sorting
- Manual
- Harvest period
- Arabica: June to Sept.; Canephora: May to Oct.
- Packaging
- 60-kg bag
Grading exists but is not systematically used: the country produces mostly canephora, and arabicas are often sold as “stocklot” (on sample). Two criteria are taken into account.
Number of defects
| Designation | Defects | Max broken beans |
| Extra Prima | 0 to 15 | 5 |
| Prima | 15 to 30 | 5 |
| Superior | 30 to 60 | 10 |
| Standard | 30 to 120 | 25 |
| Limite | 120 to 240 | 40 |
Triage of the same species: 2% max foreign matter (parchment, husk), 10% max broken beans/shells, 10% max whole beans.
Bean size
| Grade | Screen |
| Large beans | 18-20 |
| Grade 1 | 16 |
| Grade 2 | 14 |
| Grade 3 | 12 |
| Grade 4 | 10 |
History
Madagascar exported 707,676 pounds of coffee in 1918, for a five-year average of 981,047: real but modest production. Coffee is said to have been introduced there by settlers from Réunion, before Malagasy farmers adopted it in the middle of the twentieth century. Canephora of the Guinean group, Kouilou, was successfully planted there in the 1920s, at the same time as in Côte d'Ivoire.
Ukers 1922, ch. XXII, p. 289-291 (exports of the producing countries), p. 291; Country Profiles, Marco De Sousa Rosa, 2026; World Coffee Research, Coffee Varieties Catalog 2025, Kouilou Niaouli profileThe island also has a special botanical status: it is home to the Mascarocoffea, eighteen species of caffeine-free coffee plants, long present and on which no sector has ever been built. They raise the question of a naturally decaffeinated coffee, which has remained without a commercial answer.
LC ch. 4; Coste 1955Today
The volume at the head of the profile, 452,000 bags, is that of the profile (ICO 2009). Production is split between Typica arabica from the Highlands, a minority, and Kouilou canephora from the east coast, very largely dominant, between 800 and 1,500 meters, in the dry and wet processes, with manual harvesting by picking or stripping. Coffee matters to the economy, but after vanilla, lychees and crustaceans.
Country Profiles, Marco De Sousa Rosa, 2026For a long time a big name in canephora, Madagascar has fallen behind other origins after a drop in quality. Some arabica plantations have since chosen organic certification.
Country Profiles, Marco De Sousa Rosa, 2026Gray areas
- The date of introduction of coffee to Madagascar by settlers from Réunion is not established by the sources consulted.
- No production volume after 2009 could be sourced.
- The “drop in quality” that made Malagasy canephora fall behind is neither dated nor quantified by the available sources.
- No source consulted documents any commercial use of caffeine-free Mascarocoffea.