Ambilobe which means "Where there are many plantations" is an urban municipality in

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

. It belongs to the

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

of Ambilobe, which is a part of

Diana Region Diana is a region in Madagascar at the northern part of the island. It borders the regions of Sava to the southeast and Sofia to the southwest. It covers an area of 19,266 km2, and had a population of 889,736 in 2018. The regional capital is ...

. The town is the capital of Ambilobe district, and according to 2018

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

the population was approximately 62,346.

Geography

It is situated at the Mahavavy River and the

Route Nationale 6 The Route nationale 6 is a trunk road ( nationale) in France between Paris and the frontier with Italy in the Alps. Reclassification The RN 6 runs parallel for a long portion of its route to the A 6 autoroute. As a result, portions of the r ...

at its junction with the Route Nationale 5a to the

Sava region Sava is a Regions of Madagascar, region in northern Madagascar. Its capital is Sambava. Until 2009 Sava belonged to Antsiranana Province. The region is situated at the northern part of the east coast of Madagascar. It is bordered by the region Dian ...

. In addition to primary schooling the town offers secondary education at both junior and senior levels. The town provides access to hospital services to its citizens. Farming and raising livestock provides employment for 40% and 35% of the working population. The most important crop is

sugarcane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fib ...

, while other important products are

cotton Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure ...

rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

and

tomato The tomato (, ), ''Solanum lycopersicum'', is a plant whose fruit is an edible Berry (botany), berry that is eaten as a vegetable. The tomato is a member of the nightshade family that includes tobacco, potato, and chili peppers. It originate ...

. Industry and services provide employment for 13% and 2% of the population, respectively. Additionally fishing employs 10% of the population.

Airport

The town is served by an airport known as the Ambilobe Airport. There are no regular flights to Ambilobe.

Economy

In Ambilobe is found the largest sugar mill of Madagascar (Sucoma) that produced 61.714 tons in 2018/2019. In the village of Sangaloka that belongs to the municipality of Ambilobe, the main activity is the manufacture of ceramics.

Notable Personalities

Albert Zafy Albert Zafy (1 May 1927 – 13 October 2017) was a Malagasy politician and educator who served as the fourth president of Madagascar from 1993 to 1996. In 1988, he founded the National Union for Democracy and Development (UNDD). In 1992, Zafy s ...

, Madagascar's president from 1993 until 1996, was born in Ambilobe.

Climate

Classified as a tropical monsoon climate, occasionally also known as a tropical wet climate or tropical monsoon and trade-wind littoral climate. The

Köppen Climate Classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

subtype for this climate is " Am" (Tropical Monsoon Climate).

References

Cities in Madagascar Populated places in Diana Region {{DianaMG-geo-stub