Boosting Income to Boost Rainforest Conservation

Growing vanilla instead of slashing and burning forests

Two worlds face off in northern Madagascar. One world comprises the pristine rainforests at altitudes ranging from 0 to 3,000 meters above sea level, which provide habitats for over 2,200 species of flora and fauna, including 538 that are found only in Madagascar. In 2015, half a million hectares of this biodiverse area was given protective status as a national park that is twice the size of Luxembourg. The park, Ambohimirahavavy Marivorahona, is named after two prominent peaks.

However, the degradation of current agricultural fields caused by overexploitation and traditional practices drives farmers to seek more fertile land, often resultung in deforestation. 

Due to lack of incomre and economic alternatives, farmers expand their fields into the forest, which offers high-quality resources for their crops. 

Northern Highlands and COMATSA: A Biodiversity « Hotspot » and Habitat of the Endangered Simpona

The landscape of Madagascar's northern highlands is home to one of the country's last untouched rainforest ecosystems, containing a high level of endemic biodiversity. 

Within this rainforest lives the Propithecus candidus, or SImpona - a beautiful lemur with white fur, locally endemic to this region. This area harbors one of the last intact rainforest ecosystems in Madagascar. It plays a vital role in the economy of over half a million people and generates nearly one billion US dollars annualy through the trade of vanilla and cash crops. Furthermore, the rainforest is essential for supplying water to the country's main rice-producing areas, thereby ensuring national food security. 

Despite its socioeconomif and ecological importance, without consistent and effective measures, this ecosystem is at risk of gradually vanishing. The Simpona is severely threatened by poaching, while the forest is endangered by land conversion for agriculture, vanilla cultivation in thr understory, and illegal logging. The impacts of climate change are worsening the situation. This could not only result in a loss of biodiversity but also exacerbate proverty among the local population.

The northern region is home to peasant women and men who cultivate the products that serve as their staple diet, notably rice, and other products destined for sale (the "cash crops") such as vanilla, coffee, ginger or cloves. In spite of their hard work, the peasant families regularly face famine and poverty. They have only small plots of land, the profitability of their activities remains low due to inefficient production techniques, and the prices of their products are subject to significant fluctuations. Though vanilla has reached high prices in world markets in recent years, producers earn only a small income from it because of the margins taken by intermediaries, but also because of a lack of knowledge of the market. In these conditions, it is not surprising that they seek to exploit the only reserve of land they have, namely the forest, even if it is protected.

This is why Helvetas is working with the WWF in nine villages with a total of 23,000 inhabitants to offer them alternative ways of overcoming poverty - and above all, to ensure that the global of «zero deforestation» in the Northern Highlands Protectede Area and the COMATSA region is effectively achieved. 

The second phase of the project builds on the approaches of the first, but places greater emphasis on sustainability by providing stronger support to communities and associations of community organisations.

The farmers learn how to improve the quality of their products for export and how to sell them at a fair price. Helvetas helps them set up cooperatives and establish sustainable business relationships with national and international buyers. They form community savings and credit groups (GECs) and receive training in agricultural techniques adapted to climate change, as needed. Partnerships with private operators are formed to provide families with a sustainable market and better income. Those interventiond also take into account the logic of family farms, ensuring food security year-round.

The joint Helvetas-WWF project helps them to transfer the role of forest management around the protected areas to the local communities (COBA) in order to manage the forest in a sustainable way and contribute to reforestation where needed. This enables sustainable forest management and reforestation where necessary. Additionally, the consortium advocates for better involvement of decentralised territorial authorities (DTKs) and decentralised technical services (DTSs) in managing nautural resources and promoting sustainable development. 

Under the supervision of the COBAs, the families take from the forests, without damaging them, the wood they need for their own consumption. The COBAs hold their members accountable, when they violate forest conservation rules. The financing of COBAs' activities related to environmental and natural resource conservation is supported by various financial sources, including environmental premiums paid by private companies from the sale of vanilla, contributions from credit and saving groups, and local government support. This allows the COBAs - in the interest of good governance, transparency, and accountability - to report on how they manage and use the financial resources entrusted to them.

Diversifying income to reduce dependence on vanilla

Helvetas helps farmers diversify their sources of income to help build resilience. For example, ginger cultivation is an alternative to the excessive sale of cheap rice, which is harvested annually between May and June. Farmers set aside more rice, improving their food escurity over a longer period. The income from ginger shortens the economic lean period and eases the time until the vanilla pods ripen, resulting in better quality and price.

In summary, the goal is to ensure household food security by broadening income sources as much as possible - either through market-oriented cash crops or by expanding the cultivation of staple foods.