Madagascar

Andzavibe, Ambanja
13°36’49.3”S
48°26’2.3”E

In 1906, Lucien Millot created the plantation in Andzavibe that today still bears his name. The Société Millot manages nearly 1,300 hectares and employs almost 500 people. Valrhona has had a relationship in Madagascar with Millot for over 30 years. Today, we have exclusive purchasing rights over all of the cocoa grown on the Millot plantation – an organic certified plantation spanning around 600 hectares – as well as over the cocoa grown by a network of local producers. In 2016, Valrhona and Millot decided to take their historic partnership even further, and Valrhona became a shareholder in the Société Millot. This significant investment allows us to cement our shared ambitions and together build our long-term development plan.

1986 Start of the partnership

Valrhona became a shareholder in 2016

Exclusive right to the cocoa

from Société Millot

1,285 Producers

And 500 employees

Moodboard Madagascar
Moodboard Madagascar
Moodboard Madagascar
Moodboard Madagascar
Moodboard Madagascar

2014 - 2018

Renovation of a village for Millot employees and their families

2015

Construction of a primary healthcare center, providing Millot employees and their families with rapid access to healthcare, including consultations and free medication

2017

Launch of an agroforestry project in North East Madagascar. The aim is to educate producers about growing cocoa with other crops such as vanilla, thus reducing their vulnerability to the extreme fluctuations in the price of vanilla

2021

300 producers completed questionnaires on the themes of water, health, income and education to get a sense of people’s needs and build community projects for the coming years. 

2021 - 2022

Carrying out a carbon assessment (including emissions and sequestration), covering the whole process from the producer’s plot to the cocoa’s port of departure and forming a plan to reduce emissions. Cocoa from Millot has a carbon footprint of 0.57kg of CO2 per kilo of cocoa (measured from the producer’s plantation to the Valrhona chocolate factory), compared with an average of 23kg CO2 per kilo for all cocoa. 

45 new houses

built

151,400 cocoa trees

planted in agroforestry systems + 5,000 shading trees planted

2,468 medical consultations

in 2022, with 99% of minor pathologies