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The Secretary of State for Food Autonomy, Tahian’Ny Avo Razanamahefa, is ambitious. The new member of the government announced when she took office yesterday that Madagascar aims to produce 11 million tons of rice by 2030, 5 tons more than this year’s agricultural production. Therefore, she wants to strengthen the government’s efforts in the agricultural sector, focusing resources and support on basic producers.
Among the solutions proposed by the new Minister are, in particular, field visits to assess local realities and identify necessary sustainable solutions. Seeds, fertilizers and agricultural tools are also distributed to allow farmers to increase production. However, the Secretary of State insisted that concrete results are needed to respond to the concerns expressed by farmers.
She also announced the establishment of a monitoring system to monitor progress towards short-term food independence and the strengthening of collaboration with financial partners, including in the implementation of the National Rice Development Strategy, which is now in its third phase of implementation.
But the first statement of Tahian’Ny Avo Razanamahefa is far from convincing, especially since she still announces that an assessment is to be carried out, while the problems are already evident and are spreading widely in the four corners of the Great Island and even in various parts of sub-Saharan Africa. The lack of specialization in the rice sector is part of it. In addition to this, land issues also limit production, since the arable land is limited and the State does not even have a clear policy to allocate large tracts of land to producers.
The difficulty in obtaining finance for farmers who are content with basic financing through microcredit, the still high number of farmers who do not use efficient and modern irrigation systems, and the increasing restrictions on agricultural areas are challenges that require immediate measures to address and effective solutions.
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