This book is about poverty. But it is also about incredible wealth - wealth of spirit, of generosity, of humanity. The many residents of the Upper Mandrare River Basin - who welcomed me, fed me, feted me, shared their lives with me and relinquished so much of their precious time to diminish my ignorance and feed my curiosity - are about such wealth. They deserve far more than a simple thank you, as they are inspired and inspiring.
I would like to thank all of the project staff, who spent many hours with me in the field and at the project base explaining in simple and honest terms the different aspects of the project and providing me with volumes of technical documentation, which they also helped me navigate in order to find the life within the statistics. In particular, to Andrianiainaosa Rakotondratsima, Isetramaherizo Ravoavy Ramiakatravo, Alain Razafindratsima and Assefa Woldeyes, who painstakingly organized every visit to each village and every interview with project beneficiaries and partners, and who unflinchingly translated every conversation from Malagasy into French. But most important were the endless hours they spent and the indefatigable effort they made to help me feel the lives of others almost as much as I feel my own. They were my bridge between “my world” and this “other world”.
Finally, I would like to thank Benoit Thierry, IFAD’s Country Programme Manager for Madagascar, for setting me loose, and virtually untethered, to write this book, with one simple and steadfast edict: capture it!
Yes, humanity abounds.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS 9

ACRONYMS 11

LIST OF TABLES, CHARTS AND GRAPHS 13

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 14

PREFACE 16

FOREWORD 26

1 THE RED ISLAND, ITS PEOPLE AND ITS ECONOMY 27

2 “TSY MITOLIKE” AND THE BIRTH OF A PROJECT 39

3 USING AND MANAGING IRRIGATION A COMPLEX PROCESS 47

4 MORE WATER, MORE RICE: A GREEN REVOLUTION 70

5 INVOLVING THE COMMUNITIES 84

6 THE POWER OF ONIONS AND GARLIC 106

7 WHERE THE ZEBU REIGNS 117

8 MONEY MA TTERS - SA VINGS AND LOANS 141

9 ACKNOWLEDGING THE ROLE OF WOMEN IN DEVELOPMENT 156

10 RESTORING THE FORESTS 168

11 SPREADING THE WORD 176

12 WORKING WITH OTHERS 184

13 WHEN THE PROJECT LEAVES 188

REFERENCES 201

中国农科院农业信息研究所