Madagascar’s AD2M-I Project

Abstract

Madagascar, Africa’s largest island state, remains one of the least-developed countries in the world after decades of slow economic growth, unstable governance and political turmoil. About 65 per cent of its population lives in rural settings, mainly relying on subsistence-oriented farming practices, exploiting small areas of land (INSTAT, 2011; World Bank, 2017a), and suffering from persistent high levels of poverty, food insecurity and malnutrition (Dostie, Haggblade and Randriamamonjy, 2002; Minten and Barrett, 2008). Rice is the main staple crop and the main source of income for farming households in Madagascar, with 87.5 per cent of all farming households growing rice and 48 per cent of agricultural income generated through rice cultivation (INSTAT, 2011). As such, rice is of critical importance to the welfare of the Malagasy population and farmers, as well to the development of the country’s agriculture sector. Nonetheless, Malagasy rice farmers face numerous barriers to improving their agricultural production and well-being, including: tenure insecurity, land degradation, lack of irrigation infrastructure, high marketing transaction costs, inadequate agricultural production techniques, and low adoption rates of new rice cultivation techniques and of improved rice varieties (Barrett et al., 2004; Harper et al., 2007; Harvey et al., 2014; Minten and Barrett 2008; Moser, Barrett and Minten, 2009).