Abstract
The specific aim of the FoodSec-Semence project (2021-2025) in the Indian Ocean is to improve farmers' access to quality seeds and seedlings. In Madagascar, the project focuses on four crops: maize, cassava, potatoes and beans. The project is national in scope, but focuses on three regions (Analamanga, Itasy and Vakinankaratra). It is structured into five activities; this report presents some of the results obtained under Activity 01, which aims to acquire in-depth knowledge of seed chains, the agro-economic context and farmers' needs and expectations in terms of seeds. Activity 1 was carried out in Madagascar under two components, the first dealing with seed management by multiplier farmers and ordinary farms. The results of this first component are presented here. They were obtained from a survey of a sample of seed multiplying farmers and ordinary farmers in the three regions of the intervention zone at the end of 2021. The results enable us to assess the place of the 4 crops on farms in this zone. Three agro-ecological zones can be distinguished: potatoes are grown more by farms in the Very High Altitude zone, maize is grown everywhere with a high percentage of farms, but the cultivated areas are very small in the High Altitude zone, and it is the crop most often grown in association; cassava is mainly grown in the Middle West, and beans are the least important crop in terms of area. Even if the average surface area per EA is low, given the large number of EA (1.1 million), the surface areas concerned by the 4 plants, in the three regions, are very significant: for maize around 180,000 ha, for cassava 141,000 ha, for potatoes 98,000 ha and for beans 56,000 ha. In terms of seed distribution for the 4 crops, between 85% and 90% of EA, depending on the area, could be interested in at least 2 crops. The frequency with which seeds are renewed varies from plant to plant, partly in relation to the physiological characteristics that determine degeneration or conservation. Cassava seeds are the least frequently renewed, with 80% of farms declaring that they rarely or never renew, and when they do, it's mainly by exchange (67%) or by purchase from a neighbor (24%). There is little or no market for cassava seeds/cuttings. Potatoes and beans are crops whose seeds are renewed frequently, every year for a significant proportion of farms, with 35% of farms for potatoes and 23% for beans. And seeds are mainly bought on the market or in a store. Maize seed is renewed with varying frequency, but with a significant proportion of AEs declaring that they do not, or rarely, renew (45%). Renewal is mainly carried out by buying on the market. Even if a few varieties dominate, the inventory, based on the names given by the farmers surveyed in the three regions, reveals great diversity, with a large number of names, particularly for cassava and bean varieties, although we cannot be certain that all of the little-quoted varieties are different from one another. If these varieties are indeed different, then there is a great deal of cultivated diversity that Research should be concerned with. Other findings from the analysis of survey data are numerous. These include: structural differences between seed multipliers and simple farms, membership of farmers' organizations and level of structuring, crop rotation and importance of intercropping, use of harvests and proportion of seed saved, producers' expectations of improved seed. A large section describes in detail farming practices, yields, production costs and margins for the various crops, according to three categories for each plant: seed, pure crop and associated crop. Fertilization practices differ from crop to crop, with the vast majority of growers applying fertilizers and organic manure in large doses to potatoes (240 kg and 10 to 12 tonnes respectively). Corn inputs, including on seed plots, are low, with less than 30 kg of fertilizer per ha and less than 2.5 t/ha of organic manure. Surprisingly, bean plots overall receive slightly higher doses of fertilizer than maize plots, but the plots are much smaller. Finally, cassava receives no fertilization at all. Disease and pest control practices were also analyzed. Performance was measured in terms of yield, margin and production cost. Generally speaking, associated crops generate a better gross margin than pure crops. For potatoes, beans and manioc, seed plots are more profitable than regular crop plots, but for maize the results are close. Finally, a last section is devoted to the analysis of the main constraints to production according to the declarations of the producers investigated.