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From shifting rice cultivation (tavy) to agroforestry systems: a century of changing land use on the East Coast of Madagascar

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Abstract

While agroforestry is promoted in many regions worldwide, limited attention is paid to farmer-led transitions toward agroforestry. Agroforestry systems (AFS) are ubiquitous and structure the landscapes along the east coast of Madagascar. These systems are managed by smallholders and produce a variety of products, some for export (mainly clove products, vanilla, and lychees), others for self-consumption or for sale locally (including fruit, tubers, timber and fuelwood). We compared information in historical documents with data collected in household surveys in 2016 in one village to identify the socio-technical and economic determinants that guided farmers' strategies over a century and led to the current production systems and landscapes. The agricultural policy implemented by the French colonial power, required farmers to produce industrial crops for export. Reluctantly at first, farmers gradually abandoned shifting rice cultivation (tavy) to grow cash crops, mainly coffee, paving the way for an economy based on trade and monetization. Later, farmers replaced coffee by clove trees, gradually transforming shifting cultivation into AFS with cloves. Simultaneously, they extended paddy rice cultivation and diversified their AFS in response to economic and climatic disturbances and to more gradual changes, thereby demonstrating their continual responsiveness. Similar dynamics can be observed in many contexts where the colonial powers forced farmers to produce cash crops to supply industries in the metropolitan area, obliging them to diversify their production and cropping systems. Our results provide valuable insights into the multiple drivers of these transitions toward agroforestry and into the complexity of the processes involved.

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Fig. 1
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© CIRAD). D Installation of a rice field in the 1960s in Vohibary (Dandoy 1973)

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded by the "Investissements d'avenir" program of the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (France), coordinated by Agropolis Foundation (reference ANR-10-LABX-001-01 Labex Agro). The authors thank the villagers of Vohibary for their kind welcome and the farmers surveyed for their availability. The authors are particularly grateful to Stéphane Corduant (Mada Movies, Antananarivo, Madagascar) for drone image capture, to our Malagasy interpreter, Harcine and to Karen Newby and Daphne Goodfellow for English translation and revision of this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CIRAD, UMR SENS, 34398, Montpellier, France

    Juliette Mariel & Vanesse Labeyrie

  2. SENS, CIRAD, IRD, Univ Paul Valery Montpellier 3, Univ Montpellier, Montpellier, France

    Juliette Mariel & Vanesse Labeyrie

  3. CIRAD, UMR Innovation, 34398, Montpellier, France

    Eric Penot

  4. Université de Montpellier, CIRAD, INRA, Montpellier SupAgro, Montpellier, France

    Eric Penot

  5. Lot VT1Ter VQSG Andohaniato-Ambohipo, 101, Antananarivo, Madagascar

    Hasina Herimandimby

  6. CIRAD, UPR HortSys, 34398, Montpellier, France

    Pascal Danthu

  7. UPR HortSys, Université de Montpellier, CIRAD, Montpellier, France

    Pascal Danthu

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  1. Juliette Mariel
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Correspondence to Eric Penot.

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Mariel, J., Penot, E., Labeyrie, V. et al. From shifting rice cultivation (tavy) to agroforestry systems: a century of changing land use on the East Coast of Madagascar. Agroforest Syst 97, 415–431 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10457-022-00761-8

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