On coins, on the frescoes of the presidential palace, in the fields at all seasons and in all weathers, farmers take centre stage. They grow mainly rice (there are more than 1,000 varieties in the country), maize and manioc, but also cash crops such as vanilla, litchi, cloves, cocoa, coffee and pink berries. 83.2% of Madagascars households are farmers, out of a total population of 25.7 million, according to the 2018 general population census.
But for several decades now, Madagascar has found itself in a paradox: despite having an agricultural population, vast fertile land and a providential climate, the country is not self-sufficient. Worse still, chronic malnutrition affects almost one child in two, according to the World Bank. And in some years, such as 1991 and 2020, the South has even experienced deadly famines.
Against a backdrop of strong demographic growth, around 2.5% per year according to the World Bank, the country is suffering from low yields. Cassava yields around 7 tonnes per hectare, while elsewhere in the world yields are easily double that, or even more (according to the FAO). Rice yields between 2.45 and 2.7 tonnes per hectare, compared with a global average of 4.6 tonnes (according to a study by PRRAD, a research platform affiliated to CIRAD, in 2023).
These low yields are primarily due to low production capital. Farm machinery is very rare and tends to be owned by large farmers, who are extremely few in number and often concentrated in high value-added sectors, explains Vincent Garruchet, one of the authors of the PRRAD study. For millions of Madagascans, even a simple plough pulled by zebus is an unaffordable investment.
The small size of the plots, less than a hectare on average, also hampers economies of scale, but is not necessarily an obstacle to mechanisation. In Asia, and particularly in Japan, on small plots, we see small-scale motorisation such as modest-sized tractors and power tillers, which, combined with conventional intensification, enable yields three or four times higher than in Madagascar, notes Pierre-Marie Bosc, another author of the study coordinated by PRRAD and a CIRAD researcher on several continents.
