The effects of real exchange rate depreciation on stochastic producer prices in low-income agriculture

This paper considers the effects of real exchange rate depreciation on stochastic agricultural producer prices in low-income agriculture. Conventional wisdom, that real depreciation achieved through nominal currency devaluation stimulates tradables production, does not universally hold in the presence of stochastic prices. In fact, real depreciation is only stimulative in two cases–importables that remain importable and nontradables that become exportable. GARCH estimation of time-series price data on several commodities from Madagascar support the hypotheses generated by the analytical model.     

Ecotourism Benefits and the Role of Local Guides at Masoala National Park,Madagascar

An investigation of ecotourism at Masoala National Park, a forested coastal area in northeastern Madagascar and the country’s largest national park, focused on ecotourism benefits and the role of local guides in promoting conservation awareness. Interviews, participant observation, and archival research were used to investigate the park’s guide association, resident attitudes toward Masoala National Park, and ecotourism as a method of park and rural development. Many factors make Masoala National Park a prime ecotourist destination, including the possibility of viewing its endemic species, such as red-ruffed lemurs. The park has a strong local guides’ association and currently combines conservation and development through a programme that returns a portion of tourism revenue to local communities. Actual or potential benefits received from the park, including ecotourism revenues, were found to influence the positive and negative perceptions of Masoala National Park held by residents living in the park periphery. However, limitations on ecotourism development include poor infrastructure and difficult access, a challenging climate including a hurricane season, and past national political instability.     

Seasonal poverty in Madagascar: magnitude and solutions

Seasonal reductions in food consumption pull about one million Malagasy below the poverty line during the lean season. There they join the nine million more who remain chronically undernourished throughout the year. Because the seasonality of food shortages coincides with the increased prevalence of diarrhea and other diseases during the rainy season, the resulting lean season exacts a heavy toll in the form of increased rates of malnutrition and child mortality. Combining the results of recent field studies with a seasonal multi-market model, this paper measures the probable impacts of three common interventions aimed at combatting seasonal food insecurity. We find the most promising interventions to be those that increase agricultural productivity of the secondary food crops such as cassava, other roots and tubers, and maize.     

Formal mining investments and artisanal mining in southern Madagascar: Effects of spontaneous reactions and adjustment policies on poverty alleviation

The main political concern in the southern areas of Madagascar is poverty alleviation. To alleviate poverty in the area, the government has chosen to enforce adjustment policies of the World Bank Group. According to the World Bank Group's argument, while artisanal mining is supposed to create significant economic, social and environmental problems, large-scale mining investment results in economic and social prosperity. This paper focuses principally on a re-analysis of the debates regarding the relationship between artisanal and large-scale mining and poverty alleviation in developing countries. Further, the paper offers an alternative viewpoint on these issues based on the example of Madagascar. In the last decade, Madagascar has experienced a significant increase in mining activity. Towards the end of the 90s, informal and artisanal mining emerged as one of the most important economic activities of the area with the development of the Ilakaka frontier. At the same time, foreign investments began to benefit from adjustment policies implemented by the government, and large-scale mining operations also commenced. As the local socio-economic system was deeply affected by these developments, it is wise to monitor the effects of each type of mining operation on poverty alleviation. On the one hand, it appears that governance insufficiency has hampered possibilities for broader economic prosperity through large-scale mining investments. On the other hand, while artisanal mining is frequently condemned by scholars, the negative comments seem to be overly pessimistic, as this activity can be demonstrated to provide considerable economic opportunities for both the native and migrant populations.     

Joint Land Titling and Household Bargaining in Madagascar

ABSTRACT

This paper investigates analytically and through numerical simulations how the intrahousehold bargaining positions of a couple are affected by the opportunity to title agricultural land, and how the couple’s choice between an individual male title and a joint title is determined. The results suggest that when land registration is offered to couples as a discrete choice between individual or joint titles, there is a risk that women with weak initial bargaining positions will be further weakened following the reform. A joint title will only be chosen if the spouses start off with relatively equal bargaining positions; otherwise a male title will be chosen. An application of the model to the situation of Madagascar, using household survey data, supports the predictions of the model.     

Moderate prosperity,an adaptation of the middle class concept to a Malagasy rural area: the case of Itasy

In order to adapt the controversial sociological concept of ‘Middle Class’ to an African agriculture-based economy, exemplified by Madagascar, we propose the concept of Moderate Prosperity. As a case study, we use detailed data from 508 households in the 2008 Itasy Observatory. We stratify them using four distinguishing socio-economic factors: household income quintile, head of household’s education level, income structure and land tenure. We describe four Moderate Prosperity clusters that reflect the agro-economic diversity of the Itasy region: a vulnerable group of agriculturally diversified households in the third income quintile with locally issued land title; an emerging group of skilled, polyculture farmers belonging to both the lowest and highest quintiles; a traditional group of uneducated rice farmers in the fourth quintile with traditional land ownership; and an upper group of educated livestock farmers, non-agricultural independents and workers, belonging to the top income quintile with locally issued land title.     

Who wins and who loses? Unpacking the “local people” concept in ecotourism: a longitudinal study of community equity in Ankarana,Madagascar

Tourism in the Ankarana protected area, Madagascar, has increased since the early 1990s, linked to growing national and donor interest in conservation and ecotourism. Using a qualitative and longitudinal approach, this analysis focuses on the social impacts of tourist intensification, comparing and contrasting communities on either side of the protected area. As tourist numbers have increased, infrastructure to accommodate them has developed and tour guiding has professionalized. In this process, the locus of tourism shifted from the loosely organized, “grassroots” tourism of the western side of Ankarana to the organized, externally financed, easy-access tourism of the eastern side, with both environmental and social consequences. The paper argues that a concentration and professionalization of ecotourism services within a region can marginalize neighboring human communities even though not necessarily leading to increased overall environmental degradation. It contributes to tourism studies by engaging a political ecology approach to unpack the concept of “local people” through a multi-community study of the ripple effects of ecotourism within its immediately surrounding areas. This study of community equity acknowledges the need for balanced evaluations of tourism's effects. It also recognizes the value of nuanced empirical studies for planning to meet goals of location-specific environmental and socioeconomic sustainability.     

Cactus Pear as Dryland Fodder: Ambovombe Farm, Madagascar and Wellwood Farm, South Africa Compared, c.1920–1950

For over a century the pros and cons of using Opuntia species (prickly pear, cactus pear) as stock feed in arid and semi-arid regions have been debated in print. The issue remains important since pastoralism is often a major livelihood option in disadvantaged dryland areas, and any introduced plant that might enhance pastoral production could be of great value. This paper seeks to test the argument that cactus pears increase the productivity of land devoted to livestock by comparing records for their use in two historically specific locations over a thirty-year period from 1920 to 1950: a French colonial veterinary service farm in Androy, southern Madagascar and a successful Merino sheep farm in the Karoo, South Africa. It explores the different types of experiment that can be undertaken to determine impacts on livestock-rearing as well as the methodological difficulties involved. It highlights the significance of particular Opuntia species or varieties (spiny and spineless, cultivated and wild) as well as particular ecological conditions and social management systems for determining productivity impacts. It also considers the divergent historical trajectories of investigations into Opuntia productivity in Madagascar and South Africa, relating these to broader contexts.