University of Toliara

This study aims to examine the drivers of land struggles in the SOFIA region of Madagascar by analyzing how agricultural expansion, grazing practices, and governance dynamics shape conflicts between farmers and herders within rural land-use systems. The study adopts a qualitative research design. Primary data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 35 participants, including farmers, herders, and local authorities. Data were analyzed using inductive thematic analysis to identify recurring patterns in land use, governance, and livelihood management. The findings reveal competition over fertile land, the expansion of cash-crop agriculture, restricted grazing mobility, ambiguous land-tenure arrangements, and limited governance capacity, collectively intensifying land-related disputes. These challenges are further exacerbated by socioeconomic vulnerability and demographic pressures in communities that depend heavily on land-based agricultural and livestock livelihoods. This study contributes original insights by integrating agricultural and grazing practices with governance and livelihood management perspectives in an understudied region of Madagascar. It advances understanding of land-use conflicts by highlighting the interaction between rural enterprise activities, tenure insecurity, and local governance, offering context-specific implications for sustainable land management and conflict mitigation

ABSTRACT The status of most fish stocks in Madagascar remains poorly documented. Given their importance for food security and livelihoods, it is necessary to define management measures with reliable data. This study applied a length‐based Bayesian biomass (LBB) estimation method for analysing the fisheries' representative length‐frequency data of seven most commonly caught coral reef fish species in the southwest of Madagascar. Using Froese's indicators, the use of as a stock status indicator, allows a consistent comparison among species in multi‐gear, multi‐species fisheries and provides a practical basis for management advice in data‐limited contexts. The stock status was determined based on median estimates for the period 2018–2023, which provide an assessment of the overall status. Estimates for 2023 were used to describe the most recent status of the stocks. The outputs of this study provide a guide for fisheries managers, coastal communities and authorities to formulate effective management strategies for the sustainability of the marine fisheries in Madagascar. A key recommendation from the study is the need for fisheries managers to improve fisheries data and to periodically monitor biological indicators to assess the status of small‐scale fisheries stocks.

Seaweed farming offers a sustainable solution to malnutrition and economic challenges in southwestern Madagascar. This study assessed the seasonal performance of 12 edible seaweed species and optimized cultivation parameters for Gracilaria corticata and Gracilaria salicornia using long-line aquaculture. Environmental factors, including temperature, light intensity, salinity, and current speed, were monitored across warm and cool seasons. G. corticata, G. salicornia, and Hormophysa cuneiformis exhibited the highest retention rates (>50 %) and growth performance, with G. corticata demonstrating significant superior growth in both seasons. Smaller cuttings (0–50 g) achieved higher retention and specific growth rates, particularly in the first 30 days. Growth was significantly influenced by light intensity (4209.35 ± 3274.72 lux in the warm season; 3107.77 ± 3194.22 lux in the cool season) and temperature (30.20 ± 1.26 °C in the warm season; 24.83 ± 0.35 °C in the cool season), with optimal conditions occurring in the warm season. These findings highlight the potential of G. corticata and G. salicornia for sustainable aquaculture, contributing to species diversification and food security. Optimizing environmental conditions and cutting sizes is crucial for maximizing seaweed productivity in Madagascar.

This study investigates the prospects and challenges of educational digitalization in the CISCO of Toliara I, Madagascar, where digital reforms remain largely at the planning stage. Using a qualitative approach, the study gathers insights from teachers, students, parents, and administrators to examine how digital tools are envisioned, the expectations attached to them, and the factors that hinder their adoption. Current practices in attendance monitoring, examination registration, recordkeeping, and school–family communication are still paper-based, fragmented, and often ineffective in addressing chronic absenteeism, high dropout rates, or irregular examination participation. Participants emphasize the potential value of digital identification cards, centralized servers, automated alerts to parents, and digital student profiles as mechanisms to enhance accountability, transparency, and the overall quality of education. Anticipated outcomes include stronger parental involvement, reduced absenteeism, more reliable regulation of examinations, and better support for remedial initiatives such as Back to School for Learning and Teaching at the Right Level. However, the study also highlights major obstacles, including inadequate infrastructure, unstable electricity and internet access, limited technical capacity, and weak institutional coordination. By capturing both the realities of the existing system and the aspirations for digital reform, the study sheds light on the conditions necessary for digitalization to become a transformative force for educational governance in Madagascar.

Since 2014, the French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development (IRD) has hosted three interdisciplinary thematic schools on the vulnerability of the reef heritage (VulPaRe) in the Western Indian Ocean. Taking a sustainability science approach, the schools aimed to build capacity, facilitate knowledge transfer, and foster collaboration among a variety of stakeholders involved in research and the governance of coastal resources. The latest VulPaRe school highlighted 1) the need to strengthen the role of social sciences in interdisciplinary studies, 2) the opportunities and threats of market-based mechanisms integrating conservation and ecological restoration, and 3) concerns of justice on the access to common resources. An improvement of this educational process would be to provide more guidance for dialogues with decision makers in these reef areas.

La riziculture compte parmi les cultures les plus vulnérables aux effets du changement climatique. Malgré les incertitudes sur l’ampleur locale de ces changements, une évaluation des risques climatiques et des stratégies d’adaptation déjà mises en œuvre par les riziculteurs est essentielle pour renforcer les réponses appropriées. La présente étude vise à analyser les perceptions paysannes sur les manifestations du changement climatique, identifier ses impacts sur le système rizicole et les structures socio-économiques des producteurs, analyser les stratégies d’adaptation mises en œuvre, et établir une typologie ainsi que les déterminants de ces stratégies. L’enquête a été menée auprès de 280 riziculteurs répartis dans sept localités de la Région Menabe (Bemanonga, Beharona, Soaserana, Ankilivalo, Ankilizato, Ambatolahy et Tsimafana). Les données ont été traitées à l’aide de statistiques descriptives, suivies d’une Analyse Factorielle des Correspondances Multiples (AFCM), d’une Classification Ascendante Hiérarchique (CAH), et d’un modèle logit multinomial. Les résultats révèlent que les riziculteurs perçoivent de manière nette les effets de changements climatiques, notamment par l’augmentation des températures, la diminution des précipitations, les poches de sécheresse, ainsi que le dérèglement du calendrier pluviométrique. Les impacts observés incluent la baisse de la production rizicole, l’infertilité des sols, la prolifération des ravageurs, et la dégradation de la croissance des cultures. En réponse, trois classes de stratégies d’adaptation se distinguent. La première mobilise des semences améliorées, des engrais, des motoculteurs, et le repiquage des jeunes plants. La deuxième privilégie les variétés à cycle court, la diversification culturale et les cultures de contre-saison. La troisième adopte l’utilisation de produits phytosanitaires et de nouvelles spéculations. Les facteurs déterminants de l’adoption de ces stratégies sont la participation à des formations agricoles, l’éducation, l’accès au crédit, et le contact avec les agents de vulgarisation, avec des niveaux de significativité allant de 1 % à 10 %. Ces résultats suggèrent que les politiques publiques et privées devraient s’appuyer sur ces éléments pour orienter efficacement leurs interventions en soutien aux producteurs rizicoles, afin de renforcer leur résilience face au changement climatique. Rice farming is among the most vulnerable agricultural activities to the effects of climate change. Despite uncertainties about the local scale of these changes, assessing climate risks and the adaptation strategies already implemented by rice farmers is essential to strengthen appropriate responses. This study aims to analyze farmers’ perceptions of climate change manifestations, identify its impacts on the rice production system and farmers’ socio-economic structures, examine the adaptation strategies adopted, and establish a typology and the determinants of these strategies. The survey was conducted with 280 rice farmers across seven localities in the Menabe region (Bemanonga, Beharona, Soaserana, Ankilivalo, Ankilizato, Ambatolahy, and Tsimafana). Data were processed using descriptive statistics, followed by Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA), Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (HCA), and a multinomial logit model. The results reveal that rice farmers clearly perceive the effects of climate change, particularly through rising temperatures, decreasing rainfall, drought pockets, and disrupted rainfall patterns. Observed impacts include reduced rice yields, soil infertility, increased pest outbreaks, and stunted crop growth. In response, three classes of adaptation strategies emerged. The first involves the use of improved seeds, fertilizers, power tillers, and transplanting young seedlings. The second emphasizes short-cycle varieties, crop diversification, and off-season farming. The third adopts the use of pesticides and the introduction of new crops. Determinants of the adoption of these strategies include participation in agricultural training, education level, access to credit, and contact with extension agents, with significance levels ranging from 1% to 10%. These findings suggest that public and private policies should build on these insights to effectively guide interventions that support rice farmers and strengthen their resilience to climate change.

In the context of the FAO's Small-Scale Fisheries (SSF) Voluntary Guidelines, inclusive management and participatory research approaches to SSF have been encouraged. To date such initiatives have been limited at the sub-national and national levels. The European CORECRABE action research project (2019-2023) addressed that challenge in mangrove crab export-fisheries in Madagascar. Our study aimed at assessing local stakeholders’ learning and participation in the processes of collaborative management of these fisheries through this transdisciplinary research. We first evaluated the technical and relational learning of 52 stakeholders who participated in the project’s regional working groups and/or the national workshop organized from 2020 to 2022. Then, in 2023, we interviewed 300 local SSF actors (fishers, buyers, and community leaders) within 77 focus groups (separated by occupation, age, and gender) in 12 coastal villages involved or not in the project activities. Their fishery knowledge, project participation, social network construction, and management perceptions were collected. The actors’ learning from the project workshops and village-based in situ activities was analyzed, as well as the transfer of knowledge to and from the local communities at the regional and national levels. The study highlights the best practices (e.g., fishery diagnostic co-production) and the challenges (e.g., limited diffusion within villages) of transdisciplinary approach associated with learning mechanisms at varying scales for operationalizing SSF co-management.

Dans la région d’Ihorombe, les feux pastoraux ou les feux de pâturage sont des incendies volontairement allumés par les éleveurs pour la régénération des pâturages. Si ces feux ne sont pas maîtrisés, ils provoquent des dégâts difficilement à gérer. Sur ce, cet article vise à étudier l’analyse de la perception des feux pastoraux dans la région d’Ihorombe. Cette région abrite des diverses populations des différentes ethnies de Madagascar dont le Bara est l’ethnie originaire et majoritaire, en général des éleveurs de zébus. La méthodologie adoptée lors de cette étude est des enquêtes effectuées à partir d’une fiche questionnaire au 120 personnes choisies de façon aléatoire au sein de certains villages de la région d’Ihorombe. Ainsi, les données obtenues ont été traitées à l’aide du logiciel XLSTAT. Les résultats d’ analyse des perceptions locales ont permis de savoir que : parmi les 5 causes des feux de savanes, le feu de pâturage non maîtrisé est la première cause évoquée par la population ; le nombre des points des feux varie selon le nombre de bovidé, c’est-à-dire qu’il y a une corrélation entre le nombre de cheptel avec l’existence et la quantité du nombre du point des feux dans cette région ; la pratique du feu de pâturage est une habitude inévitable chez l’ethnie Bara, et aussi la pratique de feu de pâturage y est un processus d’appropriation du terrain ; plus de 50% des personnes enquêtées acceptent l’importance de l’usage de feu sur le terrain de pâturage pour avoir une nouvelle pousse après la pluie. Ils ont perçu la nécessité de l’utilisation des feux pour l’amélioration du terrain pastoral ; l’Heteropogon contortus est la plante préférée par les zébus et celle bien développée après la répétition des feux. Alors, il y a une similarité entre la plante préférée et celle bien développée après la répétition des feux ; Cinq types d’inconvénients liés aux feux de pâturage sont identifiés selon la perception populaire. Parmi eux, la sècheresse et la rareté de la précipitation sont les plus fréquemment mentionnés, respectivement par 66% et 41% des personnes interrogés. De plus, la population associe ces phénomènes au changement climatique. Pour faire face aux feux de pâturage non maîtrisés, Sept stratégies d’adaptation ont été recensées, parmi lesquelles l’allumage contrôlé des feux en soirée vers 19 heures, ainsi que le recours à l’entraide pour maîtriser les incendies figurent parmi les plus courantes. Ces résultats mettent en évidence la vulnérabilité des communautés locales face aux feux de pâturage et souligne l’importance d’une meilleure sensibilisation et de stratégie de prévention adapter pour limiter leurs impacts. In the Ihorombe region, pastoral fires or grazing fires are intentionally set by livestock farmers to regenerate pastures. If these fires are not controlled, they cause damage that is difficult to manage. This article aims to analyze the perception of pastoral fires in the Ihorombe region. This region is home to various populations from different ethnic groups in Madagascar, with the Bara being the native ethnic group, generally known as zebu herders.The methodology adopted in this study was a survey using a questionnaire administered to 120 randomly selected individuals from various villages in the Ihorombe region. The data obtained were then processed using the XLSTAT software. The analysis of local perceptions revealed that: among the five causes of savanna fires, uncontrolled grazing fires are the primary cause mentioned by the population; the number of fire points varies according to the number of cattle, meaning there is a correlation between herd size and the existence and quantity of fire points in this region; the practice of grazing fires is an unavoidable habit among the Bara ethnic group, and it is also a process of land appropriation; more than 50% of respondents recognize the importance of using fire on grazing land to promote new growth after rainfall. They perceive the necessity of fire use for pasture improvement; Heteropogon contortus is the zebus' preferred plant and is also the one that thrives best after repeated fires. Thus, there is a similarity between the preferred plant and the one that develops best after repeated fires; five types of disadvantages of grazing fires were identified according to popular perception, with drought and reduced rainfall being cited by the majority (66% and 41% of respondents, respectively). The population also perceives climate change; seven types of adaptation strategies to combat uncontrolled grazing fires were identified, with setting fires in the evening around 7 PM and calling for help to extinguish the fire being the most well-known among the local population.