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Rice-fish farming: a development lever for smallholder farming in Madagascar

Year of publication 2014

Pages 3p.

Publisher FAO/IOC ;

Product type Document

Edition 1

Synopsis (short abstract) Madagascar is one of the poorest countries in the world and one of the top three countries considered the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change exacerbated by deforestation, natural disasters, chronic poverty, a high dependency on agriculture and a lack of adaptability. Madagascar ranks 154th (out of 185 countries) in the Human Development Index (UNDP 2015), having dropped 19 places between 2010 and 2014 reflecting a difficult internal economic, political and social situation. In fact , according to international thresholds, the poverty rate is 91 per cent (INSTAT/ENSOMD 2012- 2013). According to the national poverty line, 71.5 per cent of Malagasy people are poor and 52.7 per cent are extremely poor, meaning that their resources do not allow them to meet their basic food needs. Poverty in Madagascar is predominantly a rural phenomenon mainly affecting farmers, given that almost 77 per cent of the working population is involved in agriculture. Poverty also comes with another reality, that of the prominence of malnutrition. More than 40 per cent of infant mortality is caused by malnutrition; 47.3 per cent of children under the age of five suffer from acute malnutrition and the overall rate of acute malnutrition is 8.3 per cent (INSTAT/ENSOMD 2012-2013). Chronic malnutrition in children results in irreversible delays in physical and cognitive growth that are part of the vicious circle of poverty. Madagascar lost 14.5 per cent of its gross national product in 2013 beca use of malnutrition, amounting to 1,533.6 million US dollars and 66 per cent of working-age adults (15-64 years) suffered from stunting as a child, representing 8,287,508 people who were unable to reach their true potential1. In response to this challenge a project was launched in 2014 aimed at accelerating the spread of carp aquaculture2 in the rice fields of Madagascar’s Highlands (rice-fish culture) in the regions of Haute Matsiatra, Vakinankaratra, Itasy and Amoron’i Mania. The immediate obj ective of this project is to develop an innovative, inexpensive and far-reaching training circuit in rural areas. Secondary objectives are to both reduce household poverty by providing a source of income and contributing to the reduction of malnutrition through a targeted increase in the availability and consumption of fish. Rice-fish integration makes it possible to optimize the use of land and water resources, in addition to other available facilities, with little investment by combining the p roduction of plant and animal products. Ricefish farming can increase rice yields by 10 to 30 per cent and produce fish with an average yield of 205 kg/ha. In Madagascar, the actual production of fish in rice fields is an estimated 3-5,000 MT per year, but this could go up to 30 to 50,000 MT per year in 30 years with the expected impacts of combatting malnutrition and rural poverty.

Language English

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