In the central highlands of Madagascar, the chalk-lined landscapes of rice fields seem to leave little to chance. In these last days of May, while the last rains of the austral summer linger, the harvest ends and the threshers turn at full speed to separate the grain which will soon dry in front of large brick farms. The narrow plots are already filling up with other crops. In a few weeks, they will give these austere black soils, the most fertile and densely populated in the country, the appearance of an exuberant vegetable patch.
At more than 1,500 meters above sea level, in the Betafo countryside, in the heart of the Vakinankaratra region, stronghold of the ancient Betsileo and Merina kingdoms, order is only apparent. As elsewhere on the Big Island, climate change is taking over, destabilizing the production of the country’s main cereal. The October rains, which kicked off the great rice season, are coming later and later, until the calendar for the first sowings slips into January. A disruption that has pushed growers who can to adapt their practices.
The threat linked to the erratic evolution of the climate is not as spectacular here as on the eastern coast of the island, where the cyclones strike, more and more powerful. But it has settled in and is gradually erasing the landmarks. “There is a lack of water in winter, we are experiencing heat we have never known, new insects are destroying our crops”, summarizes Martin Rakoto, local president of the peasant organization Fifata, which brings together 2,300 members in the region, citing the case of the armyworm, which appeared five years ago in the Morondava region, along the Mozambique Channel, and is now present in their fields. “No one could have imagined this. »
The “little red”, a neglected seed
“We were surprised this year. After five years of drought, the rains came early. It was unpredictable and our nurseries were not ready,” continues Martin Rakoto. The smile can be read despite everything on the face of the notable, because, in the end, the harvest was good, after poor years. The granaries are filled with rice but also with potatoes, the other plant on which the income of the peasants is largely based.
Worried, the agronomists follow the evolution of the situation of the main rice-growing area of ??the country by clinging to the meager climatological data at their disposal. “Since the 1960s, average temperatures have increased by about 1.5°C over the Central Highlands. Extreme cold with sub-zero temperatures, particularly important for the yield of fruit trees, has almost disappeared. The rains, if they remain abundant, have dropped by 15% over the same period and are marked by strong irregularities at the start of the season. In winter, the lack of water makes off-season crops more difficult,” observes Bertrand Muller, from the Center for International Cooperation in Agricultural Research for Development (CIRAD), coordinator of the climate change adaptation project called Dinaamicc, funded by the European Union.
A dozen scientific institutions, including the Malagasy agricultural research center Fofifa, development NGOs and farmers’ organizations are involved in this participatory research program whose objective is to find solutions likely to help small farms families to better withstand the climatic shock.
Andrianarinjaka Radoniaina, whom everyone calls “Rado”, is one of those young peasants who are not afraid of experimentation. Member of Fifata and president of a small cooperative, he has received several trainings that he applies to put into practice by preaching change around him. In plots, he tested varieties of rice developed in the laboratory, capable of maturing more quickly to counter the shortening of the rainy season. He has also adopted a neglected traditional seed, the “little red”, which offers the same properties. “You have to make choices, even if it doesn’t always work out,” he professes smugly.
Hedges to stabilize eroded soil
Taking risks has so far been quite successful for him. At 30, Rado owns 58 acres of rice fields, 1.5 hectares on the slopes intended for rainfed crops, two dairy cows… He produces potato seeds and his farm, converted to agroecology, serves as a showcase practices that should be generalized around. Trees have been planted. Hedges of tephrosia and tithonia, whose yellow flowers look like large daisies, now adorn the edges of its rice paddies to fix eroded soil, retain moisture and provide fertilizer.
The three-hour cart ride on a rough track that he has to travel several times a week to sell his vegetables and rice at the Betafo market barely erodes his optimism. Even if he concedes, like all the reclusive inhabitants of this landlocked region: “The road is what we miss the most. »
“Crop diversification, agro-ecological practices and the adoption of short cycle rice seeds and ‘plastic’ in the sense of being able to withstand both water abundance and temporary shortages, are certainly the best options in the face of climate change. However, not everyone will be able to adapt. The majority of farms in the Highlands do not exceed 0.5 hectares, an area insufficient to deploy adaptation strategies and barely large enough to feed families of six people on average. This land reality traps most peasants in poverty,” notes Bertrand Muller.
The green landscapes mask a reality that often has nothing to envy to that, more publicized, of the Deep South and its repeated famines. More than 60% of children under 5 here are stunted.
Food self-sufficiency, however, remains the goal that successive governments promise to achieve, even if until now, population growth continues to increase faster than rice production, which the majority of Malagasy people eat three times per day. Since 2019, the Ministry of Agriculture has been banking on the introduction of a Chinese hybrid rice – resistant to drought – and with an almost miraculous yield of 10 tonnes per hectare, three times more than traditional rice.
The solution, however, leaves many experts skeptical because of the high price of the seeds – marketed by a private Chinese company – and the amount of fertilizer needed to obtain these yields. In the meantime, rice import needs – with a record figure of 750,000 tonnes in 2022 – continue to grow.
