Sylvain Ramanarivo
Professor, University of Antananarivo, Madagascar
Title: Strategic reorientation of agricultural development for food security and sustainable development in sofia region
Biography
Biography: Sylvain Ramanarivo
Abstract
Madagascar is extremely rich in biodiversity and has a high agricultural potential. However, poverty is still increasing and food insecurity problems remain. As 80% of the population lives in rural areas, promotion and adoption of a relevant agricultural policy will help to overcome those scourges that obstruct the country development. The analysis of agricultural policies shows that there is no real continuity between various policies adopted in Madagascar. During the first Republic, the policy was mainly based on agricultural sector development especially rice and industrial crops. During the recent decades, it has been focused on agricultural diversification or on systems approach. Nowadays, new trends of rural development organizations argue for value chains development. In this research, the main question is: which strategies should be adopted for implementing a regional agricultural development policy to overcome food insecurity? The research has been developed in three steps: (i) dynamics of production systems analysis at farm level, (ii) identification of potential chain value within a region and assessing their competitiveness; (iii) and finally, determination of agricultural development strategies at regional level. Indeed, Malagasy farmer logic is based on the speculations headlights which remain inseparable to complex systems of agricultural production. "Acting on flagship component for acting on the system", equivalent to the optimization of production factors on potential speculation, allows to maximize farmers’ income. In addition, the development of promising sectors, as flagship speculations even in mono-activity in a region and its territories, optimizes household income. Besides, the development of agricultural strategy must combine "systems approach and value chain approach"; it should be based on the optimization of production factors and the improvement of the environment of the value chains to support food security and sustainable development at regional level.