Madagascar Aromatic and Medicinal Plants Value - Microlinks

III. VALUE CHAIN CHARACTERISTICS
A. OVERVIEW
Madagascar’s AMP value chain consists of plants and products derived from plants that are used in the perfume,
food, wellness and pharmaceutical industries. From a geographical perspective, the value chain characteristics
described in this report are representative of the east-central part of the island, which roughly stretches from coastal
flatlands up through dense forest as well as denuded mountains, and ends in a plateau of rolling hills and flatlands at
an altitude of around 1,400 meters. The climatic conditions range from tropical to semi-arid with the latter’s rain-falls
not exceeding 600 mm.
The value chain consists of five types of actors:
• Producers, made up of wildcrafters and cultivators
• Collectors, including up to three level of sub-collectors
• Processors, composed of formal and informal firms
• Wholesalers that service both the domestic and export markets
• Retailers that sell to both formal and informal domestic consumers
The largest groups in any region are the producers and collectors, whose numbers are difficult to estimate because of
the part-time nature of their activity. It is rare for instance for individuals or groups to be engaged for more than a
third of their time in gathering, cultivating or collecting aromatic and medicinal plants. These two sets of actors are at
the lowest level with regards to accessing end-market information and obtaining benefits, and are the least integrated
in the value chain.
We estimate that there are between 50 and 75 processing units in the region surveyed. They transform raw vegetative
material into essential oils, teas, lotions, soaps or other forms of cosmetic or medical products. Exporters are smaller
in number and are concentrated in the capital city and the seaport town of Toamasina.
The value chain operates within an enabling environment of loose regulations promulgated in large part for forestry
products, even though only a small number of the AMPs in the region originate from the forest. There are sparse
support services focusing on the sector, particularly with regards to financing. However, research institutions provide
multiple services from analyses of the chemical properties of plants and verification of medicinal effects to the
reproduction and multiplication of rare species and the marketing of locally produced aromatic and medicinal
products.
MADAGASCAR AROMATIC AND MEDICINAL PLANT VALUE CHAIN ANALYSIS 14