Madagascar

General Information

· Main climates: Tropical Wet at 600 m above sea, Tropical Wet and Dry, Tropical Wet and Dry at 600 m above sea, Tropical Steppe and Semiarid

· Total land area: 58 154 000 ha

· Internal renewable water resources: 337 km³

· Incoming water flow: km³

· GNP per capita, 1998: PPP$ 741

· Main food consumed: Rice, Roots & tubers, Meat, Oil & fat, Maize

· Rice supply, 1999: 136.4 kg paddy/capita/year

Basic Statistics

Producing Zones and Cropping Seasons

Rice is planted in almost all administrative units. The following table shows the harvested areas from different producing zones.

The rice-cropping season varies greatly depending on the location and type of rice culture.

Production Practices

The following figure shows the harvested areas from different ecologies during the last five years.

Upland rice is grown as a mono-crop or as in a mixture with other food crops following the slash-and-burn shifting cultivation. Rice-rice is dominant system in irrigated rice, while in rainfed lowland systems, rice-other crops system is practised if water is available. A number of improved rice varieties have been released for cultivation.

Land preparation for lowland rice is done mostly with animal traction. Transplanting is the main method of crop establishment in lowland systems. Farmers generally do not have access to inorganic fertilizers. Weeding is generally done manually, although the use of herbicides is increasing in irrigated rice.

Constraints and Issues of Sustainable Production

There are several constraints to sustainable rice production in Madagascar. Following are the majors:

• Lack of input supplies, especially inorganic fertilizers.

• Drought in upland areas and drought and flash flood in rainfed lowland areas due to irregular weather.

• Low temperature in Hauts plateaux, salinity in the Western Coast.

• Diseases (Blast).

• Shortage of water in the dry season.

• Poor maintenance of irrigation facilities.

• Lack of clear understanding of rice ecosystems and a well defined rice policy.

• Poor road networks and marketing systems.

• Weak research and extension support.

The following table shows the rice production costs.

Sustainable rice production depends greatly on appropriate policy to provide farmers with support in inputs supply and marketing of products. Policy that promotes the application of appropriate rate of inorganic fertilizer would be essential.

Research and Development Institutes

· Centre national de la recherche appliquee au developpement rural, B.P. 1444 Antananarivo Phone: 40278

· Complexe agronomique du Lac Alaotra B.P. 30 Lac Alaotra 503 Phone: 16

· Direction de la recherche, Station de recherches agronomiques Ambatobe

· Malgache-Norwegian Cooperation for Livestock and Crop Development B.P. 198 Antsirabe 110 Phone: 40278 Telex: 22211

· IRRI-Madagascar Rice Research Project B.P. 4151 Antananarivo 101 Phone: (2) 40299 Telex: 22544 FLM MG Fax: (261-2) 34883

· Service de la commercialisation Anosy Antananarivo 101 Phone: 24710

· Service de la Sécurité Alimenaire, Ministère de l'Agriculture, 101 Antananarivo, Mandagascar, Tel 22889.

· Service production des semences et materiel vegetal Minstere de la production agricole et la reforme agrar B.P. 237 Antananarivo 101 Phone: 28404

· Station agricole de Marovosy Marovosy

· Station de recherches Antalaha, B.P. 60 Antalaha