Nourishing the land, nourishing the people: a Madagascar success story

243 Pages·2010·8.07 MB·English

by  Shapiro, B., Woldeyes, A., Ramilison, H., Rakotondratsima, A. (Eds.)

Nourishing the Land, Nourishing the People
The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)
works with poor rural people to enable them to grow and sell more food,
increase their incomes and determine the direction of their own lives.
Since 1978, IFAD has invested over US$12 billion in grants and low-
interest loans to developing countries, empowering more than 350 million
people to break out of poverty. IFAD is an international financial
institution and a specialized UN agency based in Rome – the UN’s food
and agricultural hub. It is a unique partnership of 165 members from the
Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), other
developing countries and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD). Website: www.ifad.org.
This book was written within the framework of an initiative to
promote innovations in rural development, financed by the UK
Department for International Development (DFID). Other studies were
vital to the production of this book, most notably the improvement of
knowledge sharing and the monitoring and evaluation systems for IFAD
programme in Madagascar. The results can be seen at :
www.segs-mada.net (Information on the progress of the
initiative, in French) and
www.capfida.mg(Information on IFAD activities in Madagascar,
in French and English).
This book was published in French in November 2008 by
L’Harmattan Paris:
NOURRIR LA TERRE, NOURRIR LES HOMMES
La mise en valeur réussie du haut bassin du Mandraré
à Madagascar
L’Harmattan
5-7 rue de l’Ecole-Polytechnique
F – 75005 – PARIS
Brett Shapiro
Assefa Woldeyes
Harifidy Ramilison
Andrianiainasoa Rakotondratsima
Under the coordination of Benoît Thierry
NOURISHING THE LAND,
NOURISHING THE
PEOPLE
THE STORY OF ONE RURAL DEVELOPMENT
PROJECT IN THE DEEP SOUTH OF
MADAGASCAR THAT MADE A DIFFERENCE
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Published by International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)
and CABI (a trading name of CAB International)
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UK USA
Tel: [phone] Tel: [phone]
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E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.cabi.org
© IFAD2010. All rights reserved. Reproduction and dissemination of material in
this information product for educational or other non-commercial purposes are
authorized without any prior written permission from the copyright holders
provided the source is fully acknowledged. Reproduction of material in this
information product for resale or other commercial purposes is prohibited without
written permission of the copyright holder. Applications for such permission
should be addressed to the Director, Communications Division, IFAD, Via Paolo
di Dono 44, 00142 Rome, Italy or by e-mail to [email protected] (website:
www.ifad.org).
The designations employed and the presentation of material in this publication do
not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of IFAD and/or the
co-publisher concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of
its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.
The designations “developed” and “developing” economies are intended for
statistical convenience and do not necessarily express a judgement about the stage
reached by a particular country, territory or area in the development process.
The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily
represent those of IFAD.
Photo Credits: ©IFAD
Photo Archives, PHBM staff, 1996-2008
Rindra Ramasomanana, www.tophos.com, 2007
Frédéric Loward, 2007
Sylvie Le Guével, 2007
Assefa Woldeyes, 2007-2008
Benoît Thierry, 2000-2008
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library, London, UK.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Nourrir la terre, nourrir les hommes. English.
Nourishing the land, nourishing the people : the story of one rural development
project in the deep south of Madagascar that made a difference / Benoit Thierry ...
[et al.].
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-1-84593-739-3 (hardback : alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-1-84593-740-9
(pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Projet de mise en valeur du haut bassin du Mandrare
(Madagascar) 2. Rural development--Madagascar. 3. Madagascar--Economic
conditions. I. Thierry, Benoit. II. Title.
HD2129.5.N6813 2010
338.9691--dc22
2010019849
ISBN-13: 978 1 84593 739 3 (hardback)
978 1 84593 740 9 (paperback)
Commissioning editor: Nigel Farrar
Production editor: Tracy Head
Printed and bound in the UK from copy supplied by the authors by CPI Antony
Rowe, Chippenham.
TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABOUT THE AUTHORS.............................................................9
ACRONYMS...............................................................................11
LIST OF TABLES, CHARTS AND GRAPHS............................13
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.........................................................14
PREFACE...................................................................................16
FOREWORD..............................................................................26
1 THE RED ISLAND, ITS PEOPLE AND ITS ECONOMY.....27
2 “TSY MITOLIKE” AND THE BIRTH OF A PROJECT.......39
3 USING AND MANAGING IRRIGATION, A COMPLEX
PROCESS...................................................................................47
4 MORE WATER, MORE RICE: A GREEN REVOLUTION ...7 0
5 INVOLVING THE COMMUNITIES......................................84
6 THE POWER OF ONIONS AND GARLIC.........................106
7 WHERE THE ZEBU REIGNS.............................................117
8 MONEY MATTERS – SAVINGS AND LOANS...................141
9 ACKNOWLEDGING THE ROLE OF WOMEN IN
DEVELOPMENT....................................................................156
10 RESTORING THE FORESTS............................................168
11 SPREADING THE WORD.................................................176
12 WORKING WITH OTHERS..............................................184
13 WHEN THE PROJECT LEAVES…...................................188
REFERENCES........................................................................201
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ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Brett Shapiro is a writer and journalist. For the past 15 years, he
has written and edited numerous technical, policy, advocacy and general
audience publications for more than a dozen United Nations agencies. He
also provides specialized training in writing to UN staff at the United
Nations System Staff College in Turin, in headquarters offices and in the
field, as well as to diplomats at the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In
addition, he is a visiting professor at the University of Siena. Outside of
the United Nations System and his development work, Mr. Shapiro is the
author of the best-selling “L’Intruso”, a memoir published in Italy
(Feltrinelli) and subsequently a film and theatrical production. He
collaborated with the conductor Robert Craft on a biography of Igor
Stravinsky entitled “Dearest Bubushkin”, published in the United
Kingdom (Thames and Hudson). He has also written two children’s books,
“The Adventures of Bailey the Bag Dog” (1998), winner of Austria’s
National Book Award and published in France, Germany, Austria and
South Korea, and “Bailey Strikes It Rich”. His essays and articles have
appeared in numerous magazines and newspapers in Italy and the United
States and he has made many guest appearances on Italian television.
Assefa Woldeyes is a field practitioner and has been an
international consultant for agricultural and rural development
projects/programmes in many countries of Sub-Saharan Africa for nearly
34 years. He has worked with the International Fund for Agricultural
Development (IFAD), the World Bank, the African Development Bank,
the European Development Fund, the United Nations Development
Programme, the United Nations Office for Project Services, FAO, USAID,
and other international agencies. He has occupied major positions,
including: (i) Project/Programme Supervisor of IFAD-funded projects in
Burundi and Madagascar; (ii) Senior Technical Assistant and Advisor, for
17 years to initiatives in Burkina Faso, Madagascar and Mali; (iii) Expert
for 11 years in ten countries in Africa. With respect to the Upper Mandrare
River Basin Development Project, he supervised the project from 2006 to
2008, and in 2007 prepared a series of technical notes assessing the 12-
year performance of the project. In 2008 he contributed to the project’s
second review. Dr. Woldeyes holds a Master of Science and a PhD in
Economics and Planning of Agricultural Development and Tropical
Agronomic Studies from Paris, France.
Harifidy Ramilison, a rural hydraulic engineer, was the first
Director of the PHBM (1996-2004) and paved the way for its success. He
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