Narrator: This is the first caviar produced in Africa.
From the highlands of Madagascar,
the company Acipenser harvests 10 tons
of the expensive fish eggs a year.
In 2009, French entrepreneurs took a massive gamble:
building a luxury industry
in one of the world's poorest countries.
Narrator: Huge sturgeon farms in China
and Europe dominate the market,
producing most of the world's caviar.
But the company's founders were determined
to raise fish for their "black gold"
in the country they had called home since the 1990s.
Narrator: Now, their products are making their way
into Michelin-starred kitchens in Europe.
So how did Acipenser convince Malagasy locals
on a luxury industry?
And how did they get customers from around the world
to take a chance on African caviar?
Traditional caviar can only come from sturgeon.
They're native to the Northern Hemisphere.
Many of the most popular species come from the Caspian Sea,
where waters can be much colder than Madagascar's.
Narrator: That's why the founders raise their fish
in Lake Mantasoa, about 1,400 meters above sea level.
The team spent months crossing thousands of miles
in search of temperate waters like this.
The lake rarely tops 25 degrees Celsius.
And it gave this farm an advantage.
While sturgeon in the Caspian Sea might grow slower
during cold winters and hot summers,
the company says fish here mature year-round
thanks to these moderate temperatures.
Narrator: The whole process starts in the hatchery,
where they care for thousands of baby fish
until they're mature enough for the lake.
Sturgeon are notoriously tricky and expensive to raise.
Compared to other farmed fish, like salmon,
sturgeon need a long time to grow.
They can take a decade to mature,
while a salmon only needs three years.
So operating a sturgeon farm could cost five times
more than a salmon one.
But the team's first hurdle was keeping
the fertilized sturgeon eggs alive
along thousands of miles to Madagascar.
They failed four times trying to import them
from France and Russia.
But the fifth time was the charm.
The company imported 35,000
healthy sturgeon eggs back in 2013.
Narrator: That's Delphyne Dabezies,
one of Acipenser's founders.
Narrator: Nearly a decade later,
they've grown their fish population to over 60,000.
And they raise six different species,
one of which was thought to be extinct.
Only female sturgeon produce caviar.
So once they're big enough, the team separates them by sex.
The females head to the farm.
With 16 hectares of pens, the fish have room to move.
Narrator: That's Jérôme Bastide.
He's the farm's breeding manager.
Narrator: They use three nets to contain
the fish in the pens:
one where the fish live, an extra net in case they escape,
and a net on top to hold back birds.
Ten full-time weavers make and mend the nets on-site.
It takes 31 miles of rope
and a month of weaving to make just one net.
Acipenser has hired and trained 300 Malagasy workers.
The company says it pays three times the minimum wage.
Narrator: A team heads out to feed
the fish five days a week.
First, crews test the water.
Narrator: When there's enough oxygen,
they can start adding feed.
Narrator: That's so the food will sink to the bottom,
where the sturgeon eat.
The company produces about 60 [metric] tonnes of feed a month,
made from a base of fish meal and vegetable meal,
like soybean or rice bran, yeast, and water.
If the fish aren't fed the right thing,
Jérôme says they could take twice as long to grow.
Narrator: The company spends over $130,000
a month on feed alone.
Acipenser makes the food on-site
and sources about 80% of its ingredients from farms nearby.
Narrator: Herimanda manages the feed mill.
His team grinds all the raw materials into powder.
Machines then cook and shape the feed into granules.
The recipe and size of the pellets change
based on the age of the fish.
Narrator: Feed is such a big expense for Acipenser
because the fish eat so much of it.
Narrator: While the sturgeon feed,
there's always a diver watching below the surface
to see how quickly the fish eat and how deep they go.
Every few months, Jérôme's team pulls fish out of the water.
He checks for roe in the sturgeon
using this ultrasound machine.
These fish were born in 2017.
Narrator: He measures the roe to help determine
which fish need more time to develop their eggs.
They isolate the fish that need a few more years to mature.
These females are Persian sturgeon.
They'll spend the last few weeks
of their lives in cold pools.
Narrator: These species can be harvested young,
at only 7 years old.
Narrator: This sturgeon weighs 16 kilos,
but they can go up to 20.
Narrator: The valuable roe makes up about
a fourth of its body weight.
Mandimbintsalama worked as a cook before joining Acipenser.
Narrator: But the roe isn't finished caviar just yet.
Workers run the eggs over a sieve
to separate them from the fish's innards.
Then they wash the eggs to remove any leftover bits.
These workers spread the roe out
so they can see any misshapen
or discolored eggs that need to be removed.
Now, they race against the clock
to salt the roe in a minute.
Narrator: Any less time, and the eggs won't have
a consistent salty taste.
The salt, along with four months of aging in these fridges,
helps develop the caviar's nutty flavor.
Narrator: A kilo of Rova caviar can go for over $5,000.
The cost is on par with European brands.
Acipenser exports 90% of its caviar to Europe.
But it's up against stiff competition.
China is Europe's biggest supplier.
It raises sturgeon on massive farms like this one,
3,500 times larger than Acipenser's.
Since 2014, China also has been selling the most expensive caviar –
the kind harvested from beluga sturgeons, seen here at a farm in Florida.
But Acipenser is still years away
from harvesting its first beluga roe,
because it takes nearly double the amount of time
to raise the high-priced fish
compared to other sturgeon species.
Narrator: Until then, Acipenser is trying to sell
the caviar types that are ready.
The company has opened offices in Paris, Brussels,
and New York City in hopes of hooking Western markets on African caviar.
The team has already managed to convince chefs
at some of Europe's top restaurants.
Narrator: Boris Campanella is the executive chef
of L'Écrin, a Michelin-starred restaurant.
He was one of the first chefs in Paris
to put Rova on the menu back in 2019.
Narrator: He's topped dishes of torched shrimp,
lamb tartare, and ceviche with Rova caviar.
Narrator: Like this dish of abalone with brown butter.
Narrator: And Boris isn't the only chef
who's stocked these tins.
About 15 restaurants across Europe now serve Rova.
The company's success abroad has allowed it
to invest back into Madagascar.
Acipenser started by training locals,
like Tafitasoa Heriarivony.
And Mendrika.
Narrator: The company provides rent-free housing
for its workers.
The housing site also has a grocery store,
a mini theater, and a gym.
Narrator: That includes three meals a day.
Most of the employees' food is grown on-site.