FORI results Madagascar v4
FORI | Project results | Madagascar
Farmers leading the research on soil fertility in the Highlands
On a small farm in the Madagascar Highlands, soil fertility is not one problem among several. It is the one that decides whether anything else is worth trying. What this project changes is who gets to work on it. In three Highland regions, market gardeners design and run their own trials, and open their plots so neighbours can judge the results for themselves.
Photo: Fert
Who is involved
Four organisations behind RAITRA
Research and training centre
Ceffel
The Fifata group’s agroecology reference body. Runs trials, trains relay farmers and spreads innovations.
Read more about Ceffel (opens in a new tab)
Farmer organisation network
Fifata
The national federation of Malagasy farmer organisations, to which Ceffel and VFTV belong.
Visit site for Fifata (opens in a new tab)
Regional farmer organisation
VFTV
The regional farmer organisation in Vakinankaratra. Hosts trials and organises producers locally.
Read more about VFTV (opens in a new tab)
Agri-agency
Fert
French agri-agency and AgriCord member. Partners the Fifata group on technical support and capitalisation.
Visit site for Fert (opens in a new tab)The project
How RAITRA worked
Small farms, degraded soils and inputs no one can afford
Family farms in Madagascar are squeezed on every side: limited land, poor access to inputs, markets and equipment, and soils that climate change is eroding and degrading faster than they can recover. Managing fertility sustainably is not one option among several. It is the precondition for intensifying anything at all.
2025 made that harder. A drought at the end of 2024 was followed by intense rains in early 2025 that damaged harvests and flooded several regions, though the second half brought more regular and broadly favourable rainfall. The president was removed from office in October and a transition government took over. Inflation stayed high and input prices kept rising, pushing producers towards short-cycle crops and quick cash.
The RAITRA project answers with research the farmers run themselves. It is carried by Ceffel, the specialised farmer organisation of the Fifata group, with Fert as agri-agency and Fofifa, the national agricultural research institute, as research partner. Three regional farmer organisations host the work: Fifatam, Sahi and VFTV.
Project facts
- Full name
- Inclusive action research for an agroecological transition in market garden crops, in three regions of the Madagascar Highlands. Known as RAITRA
- Country
- Madagascar: Vakinankaratra, Amoron’i Mania and Haute Matsiatra
- Dates
- 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2026. Figures on this page are as reported for 2025
- Farmers involved
- 3,661 reached in 2025, of whom 1,428 women and 1,354 young people. 60 running their own trials, 229 trained to co-lead research
A farmer-led research cycle
Two years into the project, the first on-farm trials showed up a gap that had nothing to do with agronomy: the field advisers accompanying the trials needed better method. So 2025 was spent fixing the research process itself, writing down what a good trial looks like, and building the physical sites where results get shown to other farmers.
Fixing the method
A training on running on-farm trials and analysing the results was held on 23 and 24 April 2025, led by a Fofifa researcher. Twenty field advisers from the three regions took part, seven of them women.
The point was to give advisers what they need to accompany producers through a rigorous trial and to interpret what comes out of it, which also creates a shared language between producers, technicians and researchers.
Writing down what works
A good-practice guide for setting up on-farm trials was produced from the accumulated experience: the key steps, the mistakes to avoid and the conditions for success, drawn up through consultation between technical teams and the feedback of the farmers themselves.
A second capitalisation product covers black soldier fly rearing, with the production technique, an economic analysis of start-up costs, and results on using the larvae in poultry feed and the frass as fertiliser.
Building the shop window
Thirty agroecological sites managed by farmers were installed to spread what the trials produced. Each brings several practices together in one place: a liquid compost tank, a classic composter, a vermicomposter, a water retention basin, biopesticide plants, intercropping demonstrations, seed production and fruit tree nurseries.
They double as distribution points where members can obtain the inputs they need to start: worms, seedlings and seed. Eleven of them are in Amoron’i Mania, in the rural communes of Ambositra II and Ambondromisotra, and three in Haute Matsiatra.
Relay farmers do the spreading
Training ran all year across the three regions to equip paysans relais, the relay farmers who pass practices on to their peers, in technique, teaching and organisation alike. In Haute Matsiatra: biochar production and use for 65 relay farmers, composting for 40, and mango grafting and young plant production for 20 nursery growers. In Amoron’i Mania: two sessions for 27 participants on soil fertility, biopesticides and extension technique. In Vakinankaratra: nursery training for 27 new nursery growers.
And 25 follow-up missions
Twenty-five post-training follow-up and accompaniment missions ran through the year, reaching 1,045 beneficiaries. They covered biological fertilisation and pest control, the agroecological sites, varietal trials on rainfed rice, potato, onion, maize, citrus and market garden crops, collective dynamics including the Fifatantsaha village mutual-aid system, and technical and economic monitoring tools including e-roso.
Everyone involved in the work
- Ceffel, specialised farmer organisation of the Fifata group, Antsirabe, co-executor
- Fifatam, Sahi and VFTV, the three regional farmer organisations hosting the work
- Fert, supporting agri-agency and main executor
- CIRAD, IRD and the LRI, on varietal trials, seed access and earthworm species
- Fofifa / CENRADERU, national agricultural research institute, research partner
- Ambondromisotra agricultural college, teaching farm and training ground
- FN3PT and IFO (France), IMBARAGA (Rwanda) and URMAG (Côte d’Ivoire), on exchanges
Reach in 2025, against what was planned
Behind the reach figure sits a spread of technical training delivered by the three regional organisations: Sahi trained 196 producers on potato, 345 on onion and 20 on market gardening. Fifatam trained 139 on biological fertiliser production and 153 on agroecology. VFTV trained 15 on agroecology and 14 on fish farming. Forty women and young people took part in the decisions on launching and running the local trials, 14 at Fifatam, 11 at Sahi and 15 at VFTV.
The annual figure splits into 2,169 in the first half of the year and 1,492 in the second. The drop is unexplained, and it is not weather: the second half brought more regular, broadly favourable rainfall.
Sixty farmers, three crops, and a second attempt
In 2025, 60 farmers ran their own experiments: 16 with Fifatam, 36 with Sahi and 8 with VFTV. The trials covered potato, onion and tomato, on fertilisation, variety comparison and biological pest control.
Most of them ran their trial again after identifying and correcting what had gone wrong the first time. That is the difference between attending a demonstration and doing research, and it is the reason the field adviser training in April mattered.
The market garden crops on the eleven Amoron’i Mania sites are grown using the results of earlier trials on tomato fertilisation. The research is not a parallel activity, it is the input to what the sites demonstrate.
Alongside the trials, Sahi supplied its members with improved potato and onion seed on the basis of demand collected in February and March, in two waves, April for the off-season campaign and June to include producers whose calendar shifts after rice. In April: 1,660 kg of Maneva potato from Manalalondo in Itasy and 1,000 kg from Andranomanelatra near Antsirabe, plus 21 boxes of Violet de Galmi onion and 200 kapoaka of Rouge de Tana, reaching 177 potato producers and 312 onion producers. In June: 1,600 kg of Meva potato for 98 producers. The distribution covered 21 communes across 6 districts.
A market attempt that did not work
VFTV met the buyer PROCHIMAD in February 2025 to explore a supply agreement for fresh agroecological vegetables. It did not go ahead: the potato calibres its members produce did not match the client’s requirements. A prospecting mission to Tamatave followed in March, and deliveries there were later suspended over late and unpaid invoices.
The lesson: face-to-face argument about quality and production method does get commercial partners' attention.
Photo: Fert
Four organisations with four distinct jobs
The division of labour is explicit, and the four roles are complementary. Fert provides technical advice, mainly on method and management. Ceffel puts its expertise at the disposal of the technical teams of the regional organisations and the agricultural colleges, both for running trials and for spreading the results. The regional organisations exchange directly with each other, which is where practices actually get enriched. Fofifa builds the capacity to run and analyse trials properly.
Relations with public authorities are good and constructive. Courtesy visits were organised in the intervention communes at the outset to present the approach and the activities, and the Fifata group team keeps sharing information with the authorities as the work proceeds. That trust has limited administrative blockages and kept the project coherent with local public policy.
Ceffel also signed a consortium agreement under GENESS, coordinated by CIRAD, on improving producers' access to quality basic seed of adapted varieties, a key lever for agroecological intensification. Ceffel, Fifata and Fert are co-applicants on Dinaammic, an EU DeSIRA project, so results and lessons from the two projects are shared and used together.
Rwanda, potato
A visit organised with the Rwandan apex organisation IMBARAGA and the agri-agency Afdi, to a potato sector known for being structured, high-performing and inclusive. RAB research centres, private seed producers, cooperatives and the Horticulture Hub. Eight participants, four of them young. Transferable findings: mini-tuber production under greenhouse, a clear certified seed scheme, collective marketing through cooperatives, and access to credit and storage.
Côte d’Ivoire, marketing
Seven participants, four farmers and three technicians, looking at marketing services run by farmer organisations. URMAG, accompanied by Fert, showed a structured system with clear governance. They also saw Nitidae’s participatory guarantee system and direct sales supported by digital tools.
Between the three regions
Fifatam ran an intra-regional visit in June to the farms furthest along with agroecological practice, 12 producers of whom 3 women and 3 young people. VFTV took 19 members from 15 farmer organisations to Antananarivo on black soldier fly and marketing, 8 women and 10 young people. A Sahi technician visited Amoron’i Mania.
Ceffel technical day
More than 120 participants: producers, researchers, technical advisers and institutional representatives. Five field trial stations on a rotating circuit, with researchers and producers presenting jointly, field demonstrations, and posters and technical sheets as the record.
The practice that travelled furthest
Vermicompost, from one trial in 2008 to five regions
The Fifata group has developed several kinds of compost over the years, spread to farmers through Ceffel. Vermicompost is the one that stood out. Introduced in 2008, it was promoted with a single technical recommendation. Producers then adapted it, and what follows is what they had actually built, documented in 2024.
From the 2024 vermicompost capitalisation. The first two are farmers’ own before-and-after reports, not measured trial results.
What producers built, and what it takes
Five kinds of vermicomposter, and when to use which
Producers built five different designs. Each is set out with its costs, so a farmer can pick according to space and budget rather than copying the centre.
- Yellow drum, 20 litres. Durable, cheap, saves space, but small volume. For starting out. 3,500 to 6,000 Ar
- Uncemented brick, cheap but does not last. For starting out. 5,520 to 10,320 Ar
- Cemented brick, large volume and durable, materials cost more. For production and sale. 18,520 to 32,820 Ar
- Raised planks, large volume, costly and slow to build. For production and sale. 118,000 to 209,000 Ar
- Wooden boxes, easy materials, space saving, but short lived and small. For starting out. 4,200 to 8,800 Ar
The recipe, and the conditions it needs
One part green matter, one part dry matter, two parts manure, plus water. The more worms inoculated, the faster the decomposition.
- Precomposting about 10 days, with the material moved after two days for the worms to work on
- Vermicomposting 1.5 to 2 months. It is mature when you can no longer recognise what went in
- Success factors: aeration, a bed height of 20 cm, temperature around 15 to 25 degrees, and shelter from sun, heat and rain
- Never feed it spicy, fatty or acidic matter
- Eisenia foetida is the worm. A trial of Eudrilus eugeniae with IRD and the LRI in 2020 and 2021 found it less productive
What producers say changed
Production generally rises, but it depends how the transition is made: producers who stop chemical fertiliser abruptly see a slight dip.
- Produce keeps longer. Potatoes from one week to 45 days, up to three months. Tomatoes from one week to two
- Soil texture improves. Less compact, better moisture retention, which cuts irrigation for some crops
- Fewer pest attacks, taking treatments from three per crop down to one or none
- Nutrient content: 11.191% carbon, 1.213% nitrogen, 0.54% phosphorus, 1.15% potassium, very high microbial activity, fine and friable structure
The constraints, and the fixes farmers found
Every constraint in the capitalisation comes paired with what producers did about it, which is the part that makes it replicable.
- Not enough green matter: plant live hedges of tithonia and tephrosia, and use crop residues and kitchen waste
- Not enough vermicompost: combine it with other composts, the 45-day, the 7-day and the liquid
- It takes too much time, between precompost and upkeep: put the hedges close by
- No room for a bed: use a yellow drum, or share a vermicomposter across the farmer organisation
Photo: Fert
Photo: Fert
What it costs, and what a region makes in a year
Making 100 kg
- 21,750 Ar average cost to produce 100 kg of vermicompost
- 6,800 Ar for the manure. Raw materials for 100 kg are 40 kg fresh matter, 25 kg dry matter and 85 kg manure
- 2.3 person-days of labour: collection, preparation, upkeep, inoculation, sorting and harvest
- 6,500 Ar day rate used in the costing
- 800 to 900 kg from one cubic metre of bed
- 1 to 1.5 tonnes Ceffel output per fortnight in 2020
Average annual production by region
- Analamanga 1,878.8 kg
- Haute Matsiatra 1,803.4 kg
- Vakinankaratra 1,098.0 kg
- Amoron’i Mania 888.85 kg
- Itasy 677.8 kg
- About 1 kg of worm supplied to a relay farmer at diffusion
Photo: Fert
“We really need vermicompost, because it raises our production and it raises our income too. If we used simple boxes before, we now have a small room specially for making it. On potato we see significant benefits, because production has doubled, thanks also to the seed coming from Ceffel.”
From innovation to adaptation
How the practice spread
How a technique gets from a research centre to a village
Not a straight line. Twelve years of trials, three rebuilds of the beds, a worm species comparison, and one decision in 2015 that changed everything: supply producers with boxes of worms rather than only with advice.
The chain has three links and they all matter. Ceffel trains the relay farmers in agroecology and supplies the worms. Relay farmers demonstrate what they learned in their own village and share the skill with other members. Technicians and local agricultural advisers give the technical follow-up. Then a fourth thing happens that no one plans: producers pass knowledge between themselves, run exchange visits, collaborate on production and marketing, and bring the non-adopters round.
The factors that make adoption stick are unglamorous and specific: training, the presence of local advisers, exchanges between producers, diligence in preparing and checking the compost and the worms, a supply of worms and materials such as cement, and the gift of worms between members of a farmer organisation and to people outside it.
“After Ceffel’s awareness work we were convinced and we adopted it. It has cut what we spend on chemical fertiliser, which is expensive, and it has restored the fertility of soils that had already been degraded by using it. If others in the association want to produce vermicompost, we are ready to give them worms.”
Vermicompost introduced at Ceffel. First trial with the earthworm Eisenia foetida, and training with TATA. Output: 5 kg a fortnight from three or four boxes.
Collaboration with the Université Libre de Bruxelles on agroecology and agrobiology, covering fertiliser and treatment including vermicompost use.
Exchange with Papa bio after its open day visit. Production and use begin across the centre’s own crops. Trials on carrot and potato to establish the dose, compared with manure and ordinary compost, followed by demonstration plots.
Bed materials multiplied and improved to raise output. Mass diffusion begins, and the centre starts supplying producers with boxes of worms. The “Lombric pour tous” training for relay farmers of the Fifata group starts in 2015.
The beds change scale again, to 1 to 1.5 tonnes a fortnight. A trial of Eudrilus eugeniae with IRD and the LRI finds it less productive than Eisenia foetida.
Photo: Fert
Women and young people
Both groups passed their 2025 targets: 1,428 women against a target of 920, and 1,354 young people against 1,104. Their participation was pushed in the technical training, on relay farming, black soldier fly, compost and onion, and in the local trials, where women and young people took part in the learning, the decisions and the spreading of results.
Forty women and young people took part in the decisions on launching and running the local experiments. At the regional organisations, women who have been trained are progressively taking on the dissemination of trial results, which is the step that turns attendance into authority.
In the agricultural colleges, equal opportunity between girls and boys is designed in from recruitment, where the question is discussed with the parents of girls so that the conditions of enrolment are reassuring and fair. Practical work takes account of the differences between girls and boys while valuing the complementarity of their roles, which has brought a more balanced participation in fieldwork, with girls involving themselves fully in the agroecological transition.
A college as a teaching farm
At the Ambondromisotra agricultural college, a session with the nine administrators, three women and five young people among them, went through which agroecological practices work on the college’s own teaching farm, what needs improving, and how to strengthen it as a practical support for training young people.
The results went public
Thirty sites and 1,549 participants
The thirty farmer-managed agroecological sites are the permanent version: several practices side by side in one place, plus a counter where members can buy worms, seedlings and seed to start.
Farmer field schools handle the learning by doing. After theory and practice on making vermicompost, relay farmers set up production sites to master it and pass it on to interested members. In total, 1,549 people took part in local peer events in 2025.
The Ceffel technical day
On 16 December 2025, more than 120 people came to the Ceffel centre: producers from the Fifata organisations, researchers, technical advisers and institutional representatives, with CIRAD, Fofifa and IRD among the research partners.
Five field trial stations, visited as a rotating circuit, with researchers and producers presenting each trial together. The result was a genuine strengthening of exchange between research and field, and better mutual understanding of each side’s constraints.
Sector strategy and programme learning
A national potato workshop in April 2025 with Fert, FN3PT and sector actors, on the in vitro culture laboratory and production greenhouses, the outline of a quality manual and cash plan, and each partner organisation’s seed needs. Every region sent two producers and one technician.
The team also took part in the FORI operational sub-committee on 7 May 2025, the FORI Steering Committee on 3 June, and the AgriCord capitalisation webinar on 30 September.
What it means going forward
A method, a network and a supply of worms
The project has a further year to run, to December 2026, and what it has built is not primarily a set of findings. It is a working research system: relay farmers trained in both technique and teaching, field advisers who now know how to run a trial, a written guide so the next trial does not repeat the last one’s mistakes, and thirty sites where results are visible without anyone having to convene a meeting.
The vermicompost story is the argument for patience. Introduced in 2008 with one recommendation, it took until 2015 for mass diffusion to start, and the decisive move was logistical rather than technical: supplying producers with boxes of worms. Producers then adapted the beds to their own space and budget, which is why five designs exist rather than one.
Commercialisation is where the year’s setbacks landed. The PROCHIMAD agreement failed on potato calibres, which is a production question as much as a marketing one, and deliveries to Tamatave were suspended over late and unpaid invoices. The Rwanda and Côte d’Ivoire visits were chosen for exactly that gap, and what the delegations brought back, collective marketing through cooperatives, a certified seed scheme, participatory guarantee systems and access to storage and credit, is the obvious agenda for the final year.
Also under way
The GENESS consortium with CIRAD, on producers' access to quality basic seed of adapted varieties.
Dinaammic, an EU DeSIRA project with Ceffel, Fifata and Fert as co-applicants, running participatory varietal trials on rainfed rice with CIRAD and training farmers to multiply seed. Some of its activities have benefited RAITRA farmers directly, through training places and starter seed.
Exchanges between Ceffel and French agricultural professionals, Fert administrators, the FN3PT technical team on potato and the company IFO on apple, which strengthened the technical and management skills of Ceffel’s staff and elected officers.
Resources
Download the outputs
This project is part of the FORI programme (Farmer-led Research and Innovation), implemented by the AgriCord Alliance with the financial support of the European Union and the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS).
