Attachments
Key Messages
- In the Grand South and Grand Southeast, recent and ongoing harvests are currently supporting Stressed (IPC Phase 2) outcomes as households replenish food stocks and prices begin to decline seasonally, improving access to food. From October onwards, these stocks will deplete, and households will become progressively reliant on markets and begin resorting to negative coping strategies as incomes remain below average. While Stressed (IPC Phase 2) outcomes are expected to persist in the Grand Southeast, the Grand South will likely deteriorate to Crisis (IPC Phase 3) or maintain Stressed! (IPC Phase 2!) outcomes only through significant humanitarian assistance. In the rest of the country, cyclone recovery and seasonal improvements in labor opportunities are expected to support Minimal (IPC Phase 1) outcomes through January.
- Harvests of sweet potatoes in central Madagascar began in June and continue in July in the Grand South and the Grand Southeast. Similarly, cassava, mainly grown in the southern regions, will also begin harvesting this month. In most areas, harvests are likely to be near normal, not having been negatively affected by this year’s erratic rainfall – although areas with below average soil moisture during the growing period did have some negative impacts to yields. However, in the Grand South, well below-average maize harvests due to erratic rainfall forced some smallholders to harvest root and tuber crops earlier than normal, reducing their overall yields to cover food needs in the gap between harvests.
- Markets continue to be well supplied during the post-harvest period as roads are generally passable during the winter season, including in remote areas of the North, where roads were damaged by tropical cyclone Gamane. In the wake of the storm, rehabilitation efforts focused on critical road infrastructure, and emergency cash-for-work programs repaired rural pathways to reopen isolated areas. By April, significant strides were made in reopening routes such as RN5a, linking Ambilobe district with the four districts in SAVA region, and RN6 which is the primary access route to DIANA region. Normal supply flow and market functionality are now being observed, except for portions of the road between Vohémar and Sambava districts, which still require multiple, intermediate stops and the transfer of goods from larger to smaller vehicles. The period following the harvest and the onset of the cash crop season will see seasonal improvements in income for many households as well as new investments by producer households to restore family enterprises, although full economic recovery, including restoring agricultural infrastructure, cash crop fields, artisanal workshops, and processing facilities are likely to take longer.
- The marketing campaign for green vanilla began this month, while processed vanilla will open 90 days afterwards. The government of Madagascar has implemented strict measures to prevent both premature harvesting and marketing in order to keep the quality of vanilla competitive on export markets. However, the high cost of transportation, combined with crop disease and weather damage to vanilla orchids from the passage of tropical storm Gamane, is expected to limit seasonal labor migration. Currently, the local labor supply in production zones is proving sufficient, with daily wages reportedly stable between 5,000 and 7,000 MGA. Onion and coffee harvests are also starting in the southern and eastern parts of the country, respectively.