Madagascar: wild pepper sparks debate among exporters

Madagascar A rare wild pepper, originating from Madagascar and highly prized by international chefs, is facing an uncertain future, a victim of its own success and the destruction of its forest habitat. With its subtle and aromatic flavor, Voatsiperifery pepper grows on vines that extend up to the canopy of the island's natural forests, which have receded by 27% between 1990 and 2025, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. "The customers who are interested in Voatsiperifery are only those in the fine grocery sector. It is a rather rare product, and the quantities, the volumes, are not unlimited; it is not an ordinary pepper from which millions of tons can be produced," said Mima Chateauneuf, co-founder of the bulk export company Jacarandas. To reach the peppercorns without having to climb, the pickers often pull down the vine and, in many cases, the trees that support it, thus contributing to the inexorable retreat of Malagasy forests. "It is not something you plant, harvest, and sell; it is much more complicated, much more complex than that. Trying to democratize rare products inevitably leads to a decrease in quality, a race for volume, and personally, I do not think it is necessarily a good thing," indicated the co-founder of the bulk export company Jacarandas. Madagascar pepper sells for between 150 and 200 euros (169 to 225 dollars) per kilogram in France, its main export market. The village of Ambongamarina, in the northeast of the capital Antananarivo, was at the center of a rush for this pepper two decades ago, which is characterized by a woody tail, a remnant of its stem. "Personally, I am fundamentally convinced that we can reach the same level as vanilla in terms of price, activity, commercial value, and moreover, it is a natural monopoly for Madagascar," said Olivier Ramaherison, a Franco-Malagasy entrepreneur, director of operations at Essentialys and exporter of tsiperifery. Harvests have dropped, as the forest has been ravaged by bushfires, charcoal production, and slash-and-burn agriculture, or burned during protests against the distant government.