Seasonal Poverty in Madagascar: Magnitude and Solutions

More than two-thirds of the Malagasy population consume less than 2133 calories per day, the minimum considered necessary to support a productive and normal life. As a result, by most standard definitions they are poor. 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 diarrhoea 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 – a two-month rapid rural appraisal (RRA) was carried out during November 1998 and January 1999 – with a seasonal multi-market model, this paper measures the probable impacts of three common interventions aimed at combating seasonal food insecurity. The authors find the most promising interventions to be those that increase agricultural productivity of secondary food crops such as cassava, other roots and tubers, and maize. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract]