Project technicians remove Pinus seedlings from the nursery for distribution to project beneficiaries – Mahavelona commune, 2022 ©Agrisud International
Madagascar, Lake Itasy, August 2022
The Mahavotra project is helping develop the Lake Itasy region by planting trees – enabling 900 families of producers to shift towards agro-ecology and introduce forestry and agroforestry systems. This project is the continuation of a first planting initiative carried out in the region in 2019. Thanks to your donations, 60% of this new ‘Mahavotra 2021’ phase is already funded. Many thanks to everyone!
The overall aim is to plant 108,500 young trees to obtain 48,825 stable trees over time! This planting work will take place in two different campaigns – the first from October 2021 to March 2022; the second from October 2022 to March 2023.
Thanks to the donations collected, work on the project has begun – namely production of young trees in nurseries for the 2021/2022 planting campaign.
Young eucalyptus trees in a nursery – Analavory commune, 2022 ©Agrisud International
Twelve nurserymen and women were mobilised for this first planting campaign and produced 41,125 young trees based on agro-ecological methods (organic fertilisation, integrated pest management and rational use of water). This represents 1,051 agroforestry trees (orange and coffee, lychees, etc.) and 40,074 forestry trees (pine, acacia, eucalyptus, etc.).
Nurserymen and women sowing eucalyptus seeds and bibassier seedlings in pots – Miarinarivo II commune, 2022 ©Agrisud International
Once ready to go in the nursery, the seedlings were distributed to the project beneficiaries. Delivering the different tree species posed some difficulties, especially because of the state of the roads, which were flooded and very slippery during the rainy season.
The poor state of a rural track complicates distribution of seedlings – Mahavelona, 2022 ©Agrisud International
Despite these difficulties, 308 producers (men and women) benefiting from the project developed 27 ha of degraded areas in seven communes around Lake Itasy during the 2021/2022 planting season.
A beneficiary prepares the soil with compost before planting his young citrus tree, then covers the soil with mulch to protect it from the sun – Mahavelona, 2022 ©Agrisud International
These producers are delighted with their plantations. They have been able to put their training on planting techniques (hole drilling, organic fertilisation, choice of species, planting density) into practice. Henceforth, they are focusing on maintaining and pruning the young trees.
To be continued!