Resilient Forests and Livelihoods: Meet the People
Despite its incredible natural resources, and some of the world’s most vibrant, biodiverse rainforest, Madagascar is one of the world’s poorest nations.
While it is home to an astonishing number of plants and animal species – the island is home to five per cent of all the world’s animal and plant species, and over 80 per cent of those are found nowhere else on Earth – Madagascar ranks between fourth and eighth (estimates differ, based on divergent comparison factors) poorest, of all countries for which relevant data exists.
Some 79.9 per cent of Malagasy people live on or below the global poverty line, £1.73 per day.
More than 80 per cent rely entirely on agriculture for income and food, many of them surviving on subsistence farming.
More than one in 30 Malagasy people are facing high levels of acute food insecurity, a level which means food shortage poses an immediate threat to their lives
Many more than this face hunger, missing one or more meals per day, a grim reality demonstrated by the fact that more than 50 per cent of Malagasy children suffer stunting caused by malnutrition
Under such pressure, and in a context of increased challenge posed by climate change destroying crops and washing away fertile soil, it is easy to understand how without support, Malagasy people might push to realise their – entirely reasonable – desire for enough food to eat, and incomes good enough to enable them to live comfortably, by removing areas of rainforest to make way for farmland.
Of course, this would be catastrophic: for Malagasy people, who are already disproportionately harmed by climate change despite living in one of only four confirmed ‘carbon sink’ states (where the country removes more carbon from the atmosphere than it emits); for the amazing animals and plants which live in the forests, and for everyone elsewhere, who relies on the rainforests to help us survive.
That’s why our Resilient Forests and Livelihoods programme works with Malagasy people, including women and young people, to give them the skills and equipment they need to improve their livelihoods and lives, without harming the forests, as well as to actively protect and expand those forests.
We’d like you to meet Maxime, Fidele, Sandrine, Noeline, and Joséphine…
Maxime, Youth for Lemurs project
Maxime, 26, from Ampahitra, Eastern Madagascar, joined our Youth for Lemurs project in Eastern Madagascar.
The project has educated 239 young people in sustainable farming practices, which are designed to improve livelihoods and protect and expand the forests, bringing lemurs and other animals and plants back to areas they have previously been forced from.
Those young people have enhanced yields, introduced aromatic and medicinal plants, and now also promote ethical marketing, becoming a driving force behind our conservation efforts.
They are, crucially, also sharing their knowledge.
Those 239 young people have carried out 356 awareness sessions and 19 reforestation activities, reaching 4,711 people.
As in every RSF project, Malagasy people are being empowered to help themselves, help other Malagasy people and help the wildlife and wider environment around them.
Maxime: ‘I joined the Pronki group, an environmental protection initiative, in 2019 after the Madagasikara Voakajy team helped me realise the urgent need to protect our biodiversity and lemurs.
‘Our group joined the RFL project. As farmers, we’re learning new techniques and raising awareness about the importance of the environment. We also conduct regular patrols and report violations to the authorities.
‘As a result of this project, we’ve noticed remarkable changes. For example, we now cultivate the same plot for multiple years and use fewer seeds, reducing seed usage from 65 per cent to 50 per cent.
‘We’re planting new trees and we look after the forests, reporting when people come to chop down trees, and we’re setting up a larger cooperative with 50 members, to pool our expertise and grow and distribute rice, ginger, beans and other crops. We are working to make that the first cooperative, and to develop more, as platforms for youth engagement but also contribute to the sustainable development in our region.
‘We’re helping our communities, and we’re helping the forest, including the lemurs within it.‘
Fidele and Sandrine, DAF
Working with Malagasy farmers in the Tsinjaorivo rainforest, a hard-to-reach location where few organisations work, and a Rainforest Trust priority conservation site, our Dynamic Agro-Forestry project (DAF) helps Malagasy people safeguard fertile soil, protect the rainforest, and increase incomes and food security.
It does so by providing Malagasy people with training and equipment, including in developing natural forest- and forest-like systems which enable high biomass production.
The training helps increase yields through forest protection and growth, soil management, and ‘young cutting’ of rainforest plants to promote increased biomass production. It enables people to combat hunger and its results, even as they restore land and protect forests.
Fidèle Randriamitantsoa, a relay farmer in Sarodrano Tsinjoarivo, said: ‘Before adopting the DAF technique, agricultural production on my land was very low, because the soil was not very fertile. I lacked the means to buy chemical fertilisers, so my harvests were mediocre.
‘Training in DAF and seed technique, I learned to use organic fertilisers instead of chemical ones. I made vermicompost with half a cup of earthworms and produced 3m³ of fertiliser.
‘DAF proves it is possible to obtain good production even on a small surface. On a plot of land measuring 40x40m, I harvested 80 cups of beans from 17 sown cups. I also harvested 500kg of potatoes using vermicompost.’
Sandrine Harilala, a young leader and president of GEC Andranomangatsiaka, explained: ‘Before, I cultivated my plots in the traditional way, and if I had harvests, they were modest. I learned DAF techniques, and my yields have increased considerably.
‘I simply cultivated a large area without any further preparation. Soil management, including how to combat erosion, training, has helped keep my soil fertile.’
Noeline, savings and loans
Noeline Ravaoarimalala, 34, is a farmer and mother of three. She lives in PK7, in Andasibe.
When we launched a savings and loans group (GSC – groups are funded by members paying a subscription, which funds initiatives of the members. All members benefit from shared profits from the initiatives’ successes) in her village in 2022, Noeline and her husband were day labourers, working for a subsistence wage on other people’s farms.
Today, thanks to her hard work and clever investment, she and her family are moving into a house they paid for, built themselves, and own. She descries it as a ‘dream’.
She explains: ‘We only had enough money to cover our daily food needs. We were anxious every day in case something happened that would require or cost money. We couldn’t possibly afford it.
‘My husband and I used this money to start a dream. A thing we never thought would be possible. We started to build our own permanent home.
‘Thanks to my savings, I’ve been able to make my dreams come true.
‘Since joining the group, I’m no longer short of money and I can meet my family’s needs. The GSC is a real solution to our daily problems, and I’m proud to be part of it.
‘I can say that the GSC has allowed me to escape poverty. Today, I can dream bigger.’
Joséphine, Savings and Loans, DAF
Joséphine Rasoanantenaina, 52, is a farmer and shop-keeper, as well as a mother-of-four, in the village of PK7, in the rural commune of Andasibe, district of Moramanga. Despite working two jobs, she was able to earn only half of what her family needed to stay alive each day.
Money for Madagascar and our partner organisation the Mitsinjo Association helped her achieve what she describes are her ‘dreams’ in two ways.
First, in May 2022, we set up a Community Savings Group (GEC) – a svaings and loans group in which all members pay a membership fee, which the group spends on members’ local initiatives it chooses, and shares profits from successful projects across the group – which Joséphine joined immediately and remains an active part of today.
In the GEC’s first nine months (in 2022-23), the group had 24 members (23 women, one man). Each paid 300 Ariary (around five pence) per week.
At the end of the cycle, Joséphine received 130,000 Ariary, which she used to increase her income.
She said: ‘I spent 40,000 Ariary (£6.64) on two ducks, which I sold for 50,000 Ariary (£8.30).
‘I invested 50,000 Ariary in my shop, so I could increase the stock I had to sell. This might seem simple, but it had a great effect. I more than doubled my income, from 20,000 to 50,000 Ariary per day. I could afford the things we need each day as a family.‘
The following year, 2023-24, she paid 500 Ariary (8.03p) per week membership. At the end of the cycle, she received 170,000 Ariary (£28.82).
She said: ‘I used this money to fulfil a dream. Since I got married, I never had a real comfortable mattress. But I had never had the means to afford it. Thanks to savings, this dream has become reality. I bought a foam mattress.’
Changes like this, which may seem small to us, are a reminder that development is not ‘just’ about ‘economic advancement’, as important as that is, but about what it delivers: personal comfort and an escape from shortage and hardship.
Joséphine is now participating in the GEC’s third cycle, paying 800 Ariary (13p) per week. This time, she plans to renovate her house.
She said: ‘This is something we have needed for a long time, and it’s good that I have a way to plan for it that is achievable and realistic.
‘I really like the community savings group. There is a great atmosphere, solidarity, and above all, I can make my dreams come true. I can improve my family’s life and find other sources of income, beyond what I earn for food and daily expenses.
‘This effective method really helps us out of poverty.’
In the same month, May 2022, MfM and Mitsinjo introduced a Dynamic Agro-Forestry (DAF) initiative, to which Joséphine, as a local farmer, also immediately signed-up. The initiative provides training and equipment to help Malagasy farmers protect and gain far greater yields from their fertile soil and from the forest, helping them increase income and escape poverty, as well as protect the forest and end slash-nd-burn farming which destroys it and in any cases only produces fertile soil for a very limited period.
She has achieved food security, additional income, and respect for the environment, and has actually decreased the amount of work she has to do.
She explained: ‘Before, I only grew one type of crop on a plot, often without fertiliser. I sowed 10kg of beans and I harvested barely 12kg. The land quickly became barren. I then had to look for another plot, which I burned to cultivate, but after a single harvest, the land also became infertile. It was a never-ending circle.
‘Today, thanks to the DAF technique, I no longer have to leave my plot. It has become fertile and productive all year round. I learned how to make compost, which greatly improved the quality of my crops.
‘I now grow cucumbers, beans, corn, rice, sweet potatoes, and bredes in permanent cultivation.
‘With 10kg of bean seeds, I can now harvest up to five times more than before! I never stop harvesting, every season, and I even have a surplus to sell at the market. I can feed my family without difficulty.
‘The DAF is really a sustainable solution. Thanks to this project, we no longer have food shortages. The whole community is beginning to understand that it is possible to cultivate differently, without destroying the forest. We are deeply grateful to the Mitsinjo Association and all those who helped us learn this new technique.’
Resilient Forests and Livelihoods works to help Malagasy people make their dreams happen, for themselves, using their knowledge, intelligence and hard work. Those dreams – enough food to eat, clothes to wear, a safe place to live – are really the least anyone deserves.
We provide the skills and equipment they need, not only to feed themselves and their families, but also to do a job for which we should be all grateful: protecting and expanding the rainforest on which every animal and plant on Earth relies.
And you can help us.
We achieved our Green Match Fund target on Friday 25 April – thank you so much!
But if you still want to donate to the RFL programme, please do so here: your donation will be very gratefully received and will help Malagasy people lift themselves from poverty and hunger, and protect and expand the Malagasy rainforest, upon which we all rely.
Your donation will benefit:
Malagasy people who deserve as we all do to live in reasonable comfort, free from risk of malnutrition and harm: your donation will help us provide the platform from which they can increase their incomes, produce the food they need, and develop and manage their own initiatives and ideas. You will help change lives, absolutely for the better
The Malagasy rainforest and all the animals and plants within it (the Malagasy wilderness contains five per cent of all the world’s species of flora and fauna: 80 per cent of those are found nowhere else on the planet): your donation will give Malagasy people the means to protect and expand the forests, and safeguard the animals and plants it contains and supports
Everyone: the world relies on its forests. That includes all of us. Even if we did not have a moral responsibility to protect – or at least not be responsible for harming – the living things with which we share the planet, our rainforests provide air we breathe and are central to our hopes and efforts to reduce and mitigate the impacts of climate change. Your work and generosity will, in this way, benefit every person – every living thing – on Earth
Thank you!
Thanks so much for reading, and please help us give Malagasy people the platform they need to improve their lives and health, and protect and promote the magnificent ecosystem in which they live, and on which we all rely.
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Maxime, 26, from Ampahitra, Eastern Madagascar, joined our Youth for Lemurs project in Eastern Madagascar.
Fidèle Randriamitantsoa, a relay farmer in Sarodrano Tsinjoarivo, said: ‘Before adopting the DAF technique, agricultural production on my land was very low, because the soil was not very fertile. I lacked the means to buy chemical fertilisers, so my harvests were mediocre.
Sandrine Harilala, a young leader and president of GEC Andranomangatsiaka, explained: ‘Before, I cultivated my plots in the traditional way, and if I had harvests, they were modest. I learned DAF techniques, and my yields have increased considerably.
Noeline Ravaoarimalala, 34, is a farmer and mother of three. She lives in PK7, in Andasibe.
Joséphine Rasoanantenaina, 52, is a farmer and shop-keeper, as well as a mother-of-four, in the village of PK7, in the rural commune of Andasibe, district of Moramanga. Despite working two jobs, she was able to earn only half of what her family needed to stay alive each day.
In the same month, May 2022, MfM and Mitsinjo introduced a Dynamic Agro-Forestry (DAF) initiative, to which Joséphine, as a local farmer, also immediately signed-up. The initiative provides training and equipment to help Malagasy farmers protect and gain far greater yields from their fertile soil and from the forest, helping them increase income and escape poverty, as well as protect the forest and end slash-nd-burn farming which destroys it and in any cases only produces fertile soil for a very limited period.
