BV Lac Alaotra

The basin of Lake Alaotra is one of the largest rice-growing areas in Madagascar, with more than 80,000 ha of rice fields and an annual production in a normal year of 200,000 tonnes. Despite its relative wealth and its dynamism, attested by the strong migratory pressure, the plain of Lake Alaotra appears to be a region threatened by erosion and desertification, the stagnation of rice production and the assumption of the costs of maintaining the hydraulic infrastructure.

Goals

Installed in two pilot areas on either side of the Lake Alaotra basin, the project had three main objectives:

• Increasing and securing the income of producers, affected by the climatic and economic vagaries of recent years which have greatly affected their income;
• Preservation of the natural resources of a very fragile ecological zone currently threatened and securing existing irrigation investments downstream by direct sowing under permanent plant cover;
• Support for producer organizations by enabling them to gradually become local contracting authorities for development actions;
• The Project Unit's mission was to coordinate the implementation of specific actions.

Expected results

DMC, agriculture-livestock integration, reforestation for the development of tanety on watersheds, and to support RMME (Rice fields with poor water control).
Development of local development plans with the participation of beneficiaries.
Land security (land certificate).