Madagascar’s Small bridge which is serving a big role of Connecting vanilla harvests to the world

By Wei Yan and Ibrahim Dajani

There is a bridge in northeastern Madagascar that you probably haven’t heard of yet, it probably has brought some joy into your life.

It is about 140 meters long, with a three-meter-wide traffic lane and a one-meter-wide sidewalk. 

By any global measure, it is unremarkable.

No tourists photograph it. 

It is not the kind of place that shows up on Instagram feeds, and no travel guidebook mentions it.

And yet the Manambery Bridge, spanning the Manambery River in the far northeastern part of the island, is one of the most critical pieces of infrastructure supporting a single product that creates jobs for 70,000 farmers, drives global value chains, and inspires culinary delights across the entire planet … vanilla.

As part of the World Bank Group’s long-standing commitment to inclusive and resilient growth in Madagascar, the Manambery bridge is being upgraded under the Connecting Madagascar for Inclusive Growth Project. 

The project is strengthening key roads and bridges around the country to withstand climate shocks, keeping people connected to jobs and markets year-round, and improving crisis and emergency response when it matters most.

Madagascar’s “Green Gold”

Madagascar supplies approximately 80 percent of the global natural vanilla market and the SAVA region—comprised of the towns of Sambava, Antalaha, Vohémar, and Andapa—is responsible for nearly all of it. This export, earning the country as much as $800 million in peak years, is underpinned by around 70,000 smallholder farmers, who cultivate tiny plots and hand-pollinate each flower within hours of its opening – a skill passed down generations. 

Madagascar emerged as the world’s leading vanilla producer because the SAVA region offers the ideal combination of tropical rainfall, warm temperatures, fertile volcanic soils, and shaded forest canopy that high-quality vanilla requires. 

After the harvest, the green beans are sold to local merchants, transported to processors, and shipped to food manufacturers, perfumers, and bakeries across the globe—with nearly every kilogram of vanilla from the SAVA region traveling through the Manambery Bridge.

Globally, inadequate rural infrastructure remains one of the most persistent barriers to agricultural productivity and market access. Bridges are among the most critical—and vulnerable – links in this chain, with no back-up system if they fail.

When they become impassable, commodities like vanilla, for example, can go waste if they aren’t processed within 48 hours of harvest. 

This vulnerability is especially evident along Madagascar’s Route Nationale 5a (RN5a), where cyclones and challenging terrain routinely threaten the reliability of key crossings like the Manambery Bridge. 

Shifting sand and deep red clay transform the road into impassable mud during the rainy season, while aging pontoon crossings and bridges are repeatedly battered by cyclones. 

The bridge had buckled under these pressures for years, compromising its structural integrity and turning it into a dangerous chokepoint not only for vanilla but also for cloves, lychee, and other goods. 

Against this backdrop, the rehabilitation of the bridge is a compelling example of the physical infrastructure investment that the World Bank Agriconnect initiative supports: bridging the gap, literally and figuratively, between farms and markets. By improving last-mile connectivity for the most remote rural farmers, it helps the broader agrifood system to operate more efficiently and inclusively.

A Modest Investment, an Outsized Impact

When the Government of Madagascar requested support for the rehabilitation of the bridge, it sought an estimated US$2 million of the US$611.5 million project cost; and ultimately needed about US$1.8 million. 

The return on investment is striking – with this small rehabilitation ensuring the smooth export of more than 1,500 metric tons of natural vanilla in an average year, generating hundreds of millions of dollars in export value and protecting tens of thousands of farming households.

For farmers in the region this fully rehabilitated bridge means trucks now move reliably during the harvest season, merchants can maintain their collection schedules, and farmers are no longer forced to sell at distressed prices or watch perishable crops degrade on the wrong side of a river.

The vanilla pod that flavors an ice cream cone in Paris or a birthday cake in New York began its journey in a small plot in northeastern Madagascar, tended by a farmer who pollinated each flower by hand. Somewhere along that journey, it crossed the Manambery Bridge.

This 140-meter crossing is where the local and the global meet; where a farming family’s income becomes a global food supply ingredient; and where the work of thousands of smallholder farmers infuses kitchens across the world.

A bridge this small should not carry that much weight, but it does. And now, thanks to the partnership between the World Bank Group, the Government of Madagascar, and the communities of the SAVA region, it carries that weight more reliably.