ABSTRACT
There is broad agreement that agricultural production levels in Madagascar are low and have been on the decline for several years (Ministère de l’ Agriculture, 1997; Roubaud, 1997; Minten et al., 1998; Pryor, 1990; Razafimandimby, 1997). The productivity decline is strongly linked to increasing poverty and environmental degradation in rural areas (Zeller et al., 1999). Despite the recognition of poor agricultural performance few systematic analyses have been done to relate specific household production responses to household and village level characteristics and policy variables following market liberalization. The analysis in this chapter shows which factors are important, qualitatively and quantitatively, in agricultural production in Madagascar using data from the extensive recent household and community survey.
