Toamasina Province

Toamasina Province stretches from Indian Ocean beaches inland through Madagascar's eastern rainforest belt, the same corridor that carries cyclones from ocean to highlands. The province's 19,601 km² encompasses the wettest regions of Madagascar, where annual rainfall exceeds 3,000mm and vanilla vines climb rainforest trees in small plantations. Dissolved in 2007 but persisting as a data entity, the province represents an economic reality: coastal trade infrastructure supporting inland agriculture and forestry. The Pangalanes Canal—a 665km series of natural and artificial waterways parallel to the coast—moves cargo when roads flood during cyclone season. French colonizers built it in the 1890s; climate change now makes it more critical as road infrastructure fails more frequently. Today the province relies on port wages, vanilla cultivation, and forest products extraction. The April 2025 US tariff crisis hits hardest here: Toamasina port employment drops when cargo volumes decline, affecting the city and surrounding districts. By 2026, the eastern rainforest belt tests whether port-dependent economies can survive trade contraction.