Rice, Roots, and Resilience: Building a Sustainable Farming Community in Andapa, Madagascar

When you are asked about Africa’s staple foods, maize, cassava, or millet might come to mind. But in Madagascar, the story is different. For the Malagasy, a meal means eating rice with whatever comes with it. Rice is more than just food in Madagascar; it’s deeply connected to where their ancestors came from. A fun history fact: the rice-eating culture can be traced back to Madagascar’s unique Austronesian (South/Southeast Asian) roots. The ancestors of today’s Malagasy people sailed across the Indian Ocean from Southeast Asia thousands of years ago, bringing with them rice cultivation and traditions that remain central to daily modern life.

Rice farmers in Madagascar

Rice farmers in Madagascar

The average Malagasy individual consumes 153.5 kilograms of rice per year. Yet despite rice being at the heart of Malagasy culture, rice farmers today face immense challenges. Climate change, poor infrastructure, and lack of sustainable cultivation methods mean that the very crop that defines Madagascar’s way of life is under threat.

The Malagasies in Andapa, a town and district in northern Madagascar, are facing the same challenges. According to our local partner - LENS in Madgascar, about 90% of the population in Andapa are farmers. Many farmers still practice what’s known as slash-and-burn agriculture (locally called tavy). This method involves cutting down and burning forest to clear land for rice fields. While it provides short-term soil fertility, the nutrients are quickly exhausted. Locals then have to move on and clear new areas, which leads to deforestation, soil erosion, and the loss of biodiversity.

However, the locals have been introduced to a new agricultural method—wet rice cultivation.

Shifting from traditional slash-and-burn agriculture to wet rice cultivation could help reduce environmental hazards in the area, while also improving local well-being, boosting economic prosperity, and fostering greater social cohesion.

In wet rice cultivation, rice is grown in flooded fields (rice paddies), where standing water suppresses weeds and pests, allowing rice to thrive. This method is more sustainable in the long term, delivers higher yields, and is better suited to feeding large populations, though it requires proper water management and infrastructure.

Unfortunately, the women farmers’ cooperative in Andapa lacks the necessary resources to complete this transition. Land, equipment such as water pump motors, and basic agricultural infrastructure are in dire need.

Your donation can provide the land, tools, and water systems the women farmers of Andapa urgently need to build a sustainable farming community and break the cycle of poverty. Support the Malagasy people today!

Support the Malagsy people