Agriculture in Madagascar
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Agriculture employs the majority of
Among livestock,
has grown in importance.Madagascar has seen high rates of deforestation, and the illegal extraction of highly valued timber species such as mahogany, ebony, and rosewood threatens native stands. The traditional slash-and-burn agriculture (tavy) together with population growth put increasing pressure on the native and very diverse flora of Madagascar.
Production
Madagascar produced, in 2018:
- 4 million tons of rice;
- 3.1 million tons of sugarcane;
- 2.5 million tons of cassava;
- 1 million tons of sweet potato;
- 388 thousand tons of vegetable;
- 383 thousand tons of banana;
- 300 thousand tons of mango (including mangosteen and guava);
- 257 thousand tons of potato;
- 230 thousand tons of taro;
- 215 thousand tons of maize;
- 93 thousand tons of pineapple;
- 86 thousand tons of beans;
- 83 thousand tons of orange;
- 73 thousand tons of coconut;
In addition to smaller productions of other agricultural products, like coffee (57 thousand tons), clove (23 thousand tons), cocoa (11 thousand tons), cashew (7 thousand tons) and vanilla (3 thousand tons).[1]
Seasons and geography
Agriculture in Madagascar is heavily influenced by the island's rainfall, which is generally abundant on the whole East coast, decreases sharply on the highlands, and falls to less than 500 mm per year in the South and South-West. The main growing season starts with the first rains in October – November. The cropping calendar greatly varies from region to region, according to the very different climatic conditions, soils and altitude.[2]
Farming statistics
There are 2,4 million farms[3] of which the large majority are smallholders. This sector is characterized by farms not exceeding 1,3 hectares on average, fragmented (which hampers mechanization), with a large variety of crops, extensive practices, traditional varieties, limited equipment and infrastructures and poor water control, producing barely enough to feed their families.
Agricultural production is not constrained by lack of cultivable land. In fact, out of the 41 million hectares of agricultural land, only 3.5 million hectares are cultivated annually. The remainder of the area is under
Food crop production is the most important agriculture sub-sector accounting for around 75 percent of the cultivated area (2009).
In general, levels of production and revenue of smallholders remain low due to a combination of multiple negative factors including land tenure insecurity, weak organisation of the agricultural filières, low intensity inputs use, no mechanization, and low soil productivity due to land degradation (especially erosion in the highlands).[8] Nevertheless, rice production has increased from 2.4 million tons in 1990 to 4.0 million tons in 2009 thanks to the increase of both cultivated area (15 percent) and yields (40 percent).
Shifting cultivation
Traditional farming methods vary from one ethnic group or location to another, according to
In the forested areas of the eastern coast, the Betsimisaraka and Tanala peoples also practice irrigated rice culture where possible. The dominant form of land use, however, is shifting cultivation by the slash-and-burn method, known as tavy. The smaller trees and brush are cut down and left to dry, then burned just before the rainy season. The cleared area is usually planted with mountain rice and corn. After two or three years of cultivation, the fields are usually left fallow and are gradually covered by secondary vegetation known as savoka. After ten or twenty years, the area may be cultivated again.
Because the slash-and-burn method destroys the
A similar system of shifting cultivation is practiced in the arid, sparsely populated regions of the extreme south and southwest. The dry brush or grassland is burned off, and drought-resistant
Dry-season cultivation in empty
Types of produce
Rice
The
In parts of the central highlands two rice crops a year can be grown, but not on the same plot. The Betsileo use a variety of local species that can be sown at different times, employing irrigation to grow some varieties in the dry season and waiting for the rainy season to plant others. The fields surrounding the typical Betsileo village often represent a checkerboard of tiny plots in different stages of the crop cycle.
The cultivation cycle begins with the repair of irrigation and drainage canals and
Rice-farming techniques among the Merina resemble those of the Betsileo but are usually less advanced and intensive. The Merina territory includes some areas where land is more plentiful, and broader areas permit less laborious means of irrigation and terracing. Although rice is still the dominant crop, more dryland species are grown than in the Betsileo region, and greater use is made of the hillsides and grasslands.
Livestock and fishing
Both on the highlands and on the coasts, many farmers use fishing as a complement to agriculture and livestock, but it remains characterized by the use of rudimentary tools and materials and inadequate conservation. Madagascar has enormous potential in the fisheries sector (notably along its western coast in the province of Toliara). There is also a good potential for the development of shrimps and prawns rising and for freshwater aquaculture (mainly for common carp and tilapia) in paddy fields, ponds and cages.[11] In 2008, captures of fishery and aquaculture production totalled 130,000 tons[12] About 35,000 tons of fishery products are exported every year. More than 50 percent are exported toward the European countries, the rest, toward Japan, Mauritius and some Asian countries.[13]
The traditional livestock-raising peoples are the Bara, Sakalava, and other groups of the south and the west, where almost every family owns some zebu cattle. The common practice is to allow the animals to graze almost at will, and the farmers take few precautions against the popular custom of cattle stealing. These farmers are also accustomed to burning off the dry grass to promote the growth of new vegetation for animal feed. The cattle generally are slaughtered only for ceremonial occasions, but these are so frequent that the per capita meat consumption among the cattle herders is very high.
Timber
Extensive stands of
Aquaculture
Policy and development
The 1984–85 agricultural
State control of production
The government significantly reorganized the agricultural sector of the economy beginning in 1972. Shortly after Ratsiraka assumed power, the government announced that holdings in excess of 500 hectares would be turned over to landless families, and in 1975 it reported that 500,000 hectares of land had been processed under the program. The long-range strategy of the Ratsiraka regime was to create collective forms of farm management, but not necessarily of ownership. By the year 2000, some 72 percent of agricultural output was to come from farm cooperatives, 17 percent from state farms, and only 10 percent from privately managed farms. Toward this end, the Ministry of Agricultural Production coordinated with more than seventy parastatal agencies in the areas of land development, agricultural extension, research, and marketing activities. However, these socialist-inspired rural development policies, which led to a severe decline in per capita agricultural output during the 1970s, were at the center of the liberalization policies of the 1980s and the structural adjustment demands of the IMF and the World Bank.
The evolution of rice production—the main staple food and the dominant crop—offers insight into some problems associated with agricultural production that were compounded by the Ratsiraka years. Rice production grew by less than 1 percent per year during the 1970–79 period, despite the expansion of the cultivated paddy area by more than 3 percent per year. Moreover, the share of rice available for marketing in the rapidly growing urban areas declined from 16 or 17 percent of the total crop in the early 1970s to about 11 or 12 percent during the latter part of the decade. As a result, Madagascar became a net importer of rice beginning in 1972, and by 1982 was importing nearly 200,000 tons per year—about 10 percent of the total domestic crop and about equal to the demand from urban customers.
The inefficient system of
Liberalization
To promote domestic production and reduce foreign
In February 1994,
Other food crops have witnessed small increases in production from 1985 to 1992. Cassava, the second major food crop in terms of area planted (almost everywhere on the island) and probably in quantity consumed, increased in production from 2.14 million tons in 1985 to 2.32 million tons in 1992. During this same period, corn production increased from 140,000 tons to 165,000 tons, sweet potato production increased from 450,000 tons to 487,000 tons, and bananas dropped slightly from 255,000 tons to 220,000 tons.
Export crops
Several export crops are also important to Madagascar's economy. Coffee prices witnessed a boom during the 1980s, making coffee the leading export crop of the decade; in 1986 coffee earned a record profit of US$151 million. Prices within the coffee market gradually declined during the remainder of the 1980s, and earnings reached a low of US$28 million in 1991 although they rebounded to US$58 million in 1992. Cotton traditionally has been the second major export crop, but most output during the early 1980s was absorbed by the local textile industry. Although cotton output rose from 27,000 tons in 1987 to 46,000 tons in 1988, once again raising the possibility of significant export earnings, the combination of drought and a faltering agricultural extension service in the southwest contributed to a gradual decline in output to only 20,000 tons in 1992.
Two other export crops--
As with other export crops that have experienced fluctuations over the decades, vanilla, which had seen a resurgence in the years prior, has encountered severe challenges during the 2024 growing season. The destruction wrought by Cyclone Gamane has been profound, with the vanilla plantations bearing the brunt of the storm's devastation. The significant damage inflicted by torrential rains and gale-force winds has not only flooded fields but also led to widespread loss of vanilla pods. Early estimates indicate a catastrophic reduction in yield, forecasting a harvest that might dip to a mere 1,000 tons—a figure that represents only about fifty percent of typical annual production levels. This unfortunate development coincides with a global increase in cocoa prices, yet the price of vanilla has remained notably low, hovering around $60 per kilogram. This current pricing is a stark contrast to the highs of $250 per kilogram observed merely two years ago, a discrepancy attributed to lingering effects of past oversupply. Market analysts project a market correction and stabilization by the year 2025.[16]
Fisheries and livestock
The fisheries sector, especially the export of shrimp, is the most rapidly growing area of the agricultural economy. This production is making up for lost revenues and potential structural decline within the ailing coffee, vanilla, and clove trade. Since 1988 total fish production has expanded nearly 23 percent from 92,966 tons to 114,370 tons in 1993. The export of shrimp constituted an extremely important portion of this production, providing export earnings of US$48 million in 1993. It is estimated by Aqualma, the major multinational corporation in the shrimp industry, that expansion into roughly 35,000 hectares of swampland on the country's west coast may allow for the expansion of production from the current 6,500 tons and US$40 million in revenues to nearly 75,000 tons and US$400 million in revenues by the end of the 1990s. The prospects are also good for promoting greater levels of fish cultivation in the rice paddies, and exports of other fish products, most notably crab, tuna, and lobster, have been rising.
Livestock production is limited in part because of traditional patterns of livestock ownership that have hampered commercialization. Beef exports in the early 1990s decreased because of poor government marketing practices, rundown slaughtering facilities, and inadequate veterinary services. Approximately 99 percent of cattle are zebu cattle. In 1990 the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN estimated that Madagascar had 10.3 million cattle, 1.7 million sheep and goats, and some 21 million chickens.
Environmental impact
Most of the historical farming in
The Madagascar dry deciduous forests have been preserved generally better than the eastern rainforests or the high central plateau, presumably due to historically less population density and scarcity of water; moreover, the present day lack of road access further limits human access. There has been some slash-and-burn activity in the western dry forests, reducing forest cover and the soil nutrient content. Slash-and-burn is a method sometimes used by shifting cultivators to create short term yields from marginal soils. When practiced repeatedly, or without intervening fallow periods, the nutrient poor soils may be exhausted or eroded to an unproductive state. Further protection of Madagascar's forests would assist in preservation of these diverse ecosystems, which have a very high ratio of endemic organisms to total species. A switch to slash-and-char would considerably advance preservation, while the ensuing biochar would also greatly benefit the soil if returned to it while mixed with compostable biomass such as crop residues. This would lead to the creation of terra preta, a soil among the richest on the planet and the only one known to regenerate itself (although how this happens exactly is still a mystery). The nascent carbon trading market may further bring direct economical benefits for the operators, since charcoal is a prime sequester of carbon and burying it spread in small pieces, as terra preta requires, is a most efficient guarantee that it will remain harmless for many thousands of years.
See also
- Agroecology
- Food Security in Madagascar
References
- ^ Madagascar production in 2018, by FAO
- ^ Ministry of Agriculture of Madagascar website. http://www.agriculture.gov.mg/index.php?option=com_wrapper&view=wrapper&Itemid=160&lang=fr Archived 2011-05-16 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ FAO. The state of food and agriculture 2010–11 Annex 3, Table A5. http://www.fao.org/docrep/013/i2050e/i2050e08.pdf
- ^ FAO. Statistical Yearbook 2010, Resources Table 4 Land Use. http://www.fao.org/economic/ess/ess-publications/ess-yearbook/ess-yearbook2010/yearbook2010-reources/en/
- ^ a b Evaluation des ressources forestières mondiales 2010. Rapport national Madagascar, Rome 2010. http://www.fao.org/docrep/013/al556F/al556F.pdf
- ^ FAO Aquastat. http://www.fao.org/nr/water/aquastat/countries_regions/madagascar/indexfra.stm
- ^ FAO. Statistical Yearbook 2010, Agricultural Production Tables 1 to 9. http://www.fao.org/economic/ess/ess-publications/ess-yearbook/ess-yearbook2010/yearbook2010/en/
- ^ UNDP. Plan Cadre des Nations Unies pour l’Assistance au Développement UNDAF Madagascar 2008–2011, Juin 2007. http://www.snu.mg/new/sites/pnud/article.php?article_id=748&lang=fr Archived 2012-03-24 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ FAO. Statistical Yearbook 2010, Resources Tables 9 and 19 and Agricultural Production Tables 10, 11 and 12. http://www.fao.org/economic/ess/ess-publications/ess-yearbook/ess-yearbook2010/yearbook2010/en/
- ^ FAO Country Brief for Madagascar. http://www.fao.org/countries/55528/en/mdg/ Archived 2012-05-11 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ FAO National Aquaculture Sector Overview Madagascar http://www.fao.org/fishery/countrysector/naso_madagascar/en
- ^ FAO. Statistical Yearbook 2010, Agricultural Production Table 14. http://www.fao.org/economic/ess/ess-publications/ess-yearbook/ess-yearbook2010/yearbook2010/en/
- ^ Ministry of Agriculture and Fishery of Madagascar website. http://www.maep.gov.mg/eg/actuaqua.htm Archived 2011-10-04 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ FAO. Statistical Yearbook 2010, Agricultural Production Table 15. http://www.fao.org/economic/ess/ess-publications/ess-yearbook/ess-yearbook2010/yearbook2010/en/
- ^ Blue Ventures. (2013) "Discovery Through Aquaculture."
- ^ "After Chocolate Hit, Vanilla Supplies Now Set to Face Disruption". Bloomberg.com. 2024-04-04. Retrieved 2024-04-10.
- Messerli, Peter (2000). "Use of Sensitivity Analysis to Evaluate Key Factors for Improving Slash-and-Burn Cultivation Systems on the Eastern Escarpment of Madagascar". Mountain Research and Development. 20: 32–41. .
- Jarosz, Lucy (October 1993). "Defining and Explaining Tropical Deforestation: Shifting Cultivation and Population Growth in Colonial Madagascar (1896–1940)". Economic Geography. 69 (4). Clark University: 366–379. PMID 12318844.
External links
- Ministry of Agriculture of Madagascar website
- Ministry of Agriculture and Fishery of Madagascar website
- FAO Aquastat.
- FAO. Country Brief for Madagascar Archived 2012-05-11 at the Wayback Machine
- FAO. Evaluation des ressources forestières mondiales 2010. Rapport national Madagascar, Rome 2010
- FAO. National Aquaculture Sector Overview Madagascar
- FAO. Statistical Yearbook 2010
- UNDP. Plan Cadre des Nations Unies pour l’Assistance au Développement UNDAF Madagascar 2008–2011, Juin 2007 Archived 2012-03-24 at the Wayback Machine
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain. Country Studies. Federal Research Division.