ABSTRACT：The island of Madagascar is to the south-east of Africa, from which it is separated by the Mozambique Channel. The Indian Ocean is located in the east of Madagascar, Seychelles, Comoros, Mayotte, Mauritius and Reunion Island are the neighbor of the 4th largest Island with a population of 25,234,460  .  Its length from north to south is 1,580 km and its greatest width east-west is 560 km. Madagascar has a coastline of 5,000 km and is at the southern limit of the tropics. Its area is 587,041 square km.

The main activity is agriculture but it is constituted by a multitude of small exploitations mainly aimed at subsistence. Agriculture is the main income source of the population and that population expends 70 percent of its income on food. The staple food is rice (consumption estimated at 113.5 kilos annually per inhabitant, one of the highest in the world). That foodstuff also absorbs 40 percent of all food expenditure. Protein of animal origin is consumed at the level of 22.4 kilos per inhabitant annually.

The area of Madagascar is 59 million hectares and is pided into 8% of arable land, 21% of forests, and 57% of pasture. According to the latest data from the National Program for Rural Development in 2006, agricultural soils are estimated at 15% of the total area of Madagascar. Unfortunately, only 30% is exploited. In other words, we still have six million hectares of agricultural land that we can still harvest.

In this framework we will discuss about The role of the agricultural sector in the national economy and what are the main products exporting by Madagascar , and where . Certain problem will be also discuss and of course some solutions will be given.

OUTLINE

Abstract

CHAPTER I : INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER II : THE ROLE OF THE AGRICULTURAL SECTOR IN THE NATIONAL ECONOMY

Share in the GDP...............7

Share in the demography11

Share in the situation of the poverty13

CHAPTER III:  AGRICULTURAL SECTOR CHARACTERISTICS

The physical Environment15

Human Capital.20

Agricultural Holding or Cultivation.21

Institutional situation23

CHAPTER IV:THE PERFORMANCE OF THE AGRICULTURAL SECTOR.............24

CHAPTER V: AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS MARKET EXPORTATION33

International market34

CHAPTER VI: PROBLEMS36

Problem faces by the Exporter in general..36

The bottlenecks in the development of the primary sector........................36

CHAPTER VII: SOLUTIONS37

Education, formation and technical support..37

Research – Laboratory.39

Credit39

CHAPTER VIII: CONCLUSION

List of Tables and Figures

Table 1: Growth indicator10

Table 2: Monetary indicator.11

Table 3: Breakdown of Economic activity by sector.11  

Table 4: The labor force.13

 Figure 1: Madagascar agricultural product territory map...14

Table 5: Poverty ratio evolution..15

Figure 2: Agricultural land ( sq.km)16

Table 6: Water resource..18

Figure 3: Water sampling by sector.19

Table 7: MAEP staff.25

Table 8: Food-producing cultures.29

Table 9: Vanilla production31

Table 10: Trade indicator.33

Table 11: Madagascar principal Clients..34

Glossary:42

References:43

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CHAPTER I

Introduction

Madagascar is the 131st largest export economy in the world and the 132nd most complex economy according to the Economic Complexity Index (ECI). In 2014, Madagascar exported $2.51B and imported $3.26B, resulting in a negative trade balance of $750M. In 2014 the GDP of Madagascar was $10.6B and its GDP per capita was $1.44k.The top exports of Madagascar are Raw Nickel ($568M), Vanilla ($192M), Knit Sweaters ($178M), Cloves ($124M) and Crustaceans ($118M), using the 1992 revision of the HS (Harmonized System) classification. Its top imports are Refined Petroleum ($629M), Rice($139M), Cars ($70M) and Packaged Medicaments ($68.3M).  Agriculture, including fishing and forestry, is a mainstay of the economy. Major exports are coffee, vanilla (Madagascar is the world's largest producer and exporter of vanilla), sugarcane, cloves, cocoa, rice, cassava (tapioca), beans, bananas, peanuts and livestock products. Vanilla has historically been of particular importance, and when in 1985 Coca-Cola switched to New Coke which involved less vanilla, Madagascar's economy took a marked downturn but returned to previous levels after the return of Coke Classic.  Madagascar Export it’s agricultural product almost all over the World.