For South Korea, it is 99 years of farming

With floods affecting the main road between western cities Morondava and Mahajanga, parts of western Madagascar are inaccessible for several months, he said.

Madagascar’s separation from the rest of the world for 100 million years has meant a unique natural history - 80 per cent of the island’s plants and animals are unique.

Some environmentalists have voiced concern about the potential damage from the farming project and the impact on western Madagascar’s Sakalava cattle herders.