Black Madagascar pepper

Pepper cultivation was introduced in Madagascar at

the beginning of the 20th century by the Frenchman Émile Prudhomme after a mission in Java (Ndriantoninanahary S.M., 2002).

He was the director of the National Institute for Colonial Agronomy and was responsible for developing coffee, tobacco and pepper cultivation on the island. In 1899 in an "agricultural notice" he wrote: "Until now, there have been no serious attempts at cultivating pepper in Madagascar, however there is every reason to believe that this vine should thrive on a large part of the East coast." Pepper was first introduced in Nossi-Be and then spread to Sambirano.

At the end of the 1930's the Malagasy pepper plants suffered heavily from collar rot. A new more resistant strain was then introduced and the "Belontoeng" variety from Lampung in Indonesia was chosen.

The Malagasy word for pepper is "Dipoivatra". It is still cultivated in the South-East of the island from Nosy Varika to Farafangana, along the Indian ocean. The pepper is harvested twice a year in May/July and then in October/November.

The plant flowers twice a year in Madagascar.