How Madagascar took a gamble on caviar – and it’s paying off

Jul 14 , 2019

In 2013, three French entrepreneurs, who are based in Madagascar, decided to add caviar to the gross domestic product, making it the only source of the luxury product in Africa. Last year, the company reported its stock sold out in just a few weeks. Photo: AFP

Three ambitious Madagascar-based French entrepreneurs have created a thriving caviar industry in a country better known for its unique wildlife, vanilla production and grinding poverty

Madagascar, renowned for its unique wildlife and vanilla production, has a new claim to fame – the island nation is Africa’s first and only source of caviar.

The business is an unlikely project in a country beset by grinding poverty, but its owners are determined that luxury foods can play a part in improving Madagascar’s economy.

“A lot of people laughed at us,” says Delphyne Dabezies, the head of Rova Caviar, admitting that the enterprise was a big gamble.

Last year Mozambique produced a tonne of caviar in a world market of about 340 tonnes a year

“But we took the time to prove that this is serious. Madagascar caviar is now the only caviar produced in Africa and the Indian Ocean.”

A worker from Rova Caviar Madagascar holds a sturgeon. According to Guinness World Records, a kilogram of the costliest caviar from albino sturgeon off the coast of Iran fetches about US$25,000. Photo: AFP

The island off the coast of Mozambique is still only a minor player in terms of global production, which is dominated by China, Italy and France – though producers in the Caspian Sea still boast the most prized caviar, from beluga sturgeon.

Last year Madagascar produced a tonne of caviar in a world market of about 340 tonnes a year.

Madagascar is still a minor player in terms of global caviar production, which is dominated by China, Italy and France. Photo: AFP

But its ambitious promoters hope to soon increase production to five tonnes.

The unusual plan is the brainchild of Dabezies, her husband Christophe and their partner Alexandre Guerrier – all of them French entrepreneurs based in Madagascar.