Agriculture/Agricultural Industry in Madagascar

By gwaechter
  • 500 BCE

    First Settlments

    First Settlments
    Around 2500 years ago people from Indonesia, Africa, Arabia and the Persian Gulf started to arrive in Madagascar through the eastern African coast.
  • 1500

    First European Spotiing

    First European Spotiing
    In the year 1500, the country was first spotted by Portuguese sailors. In the two following centuries the Portuguese, Dutch, British and French tried colonizing the region but were unsuccessful tuning Madagascar into a pirate lair.
  • Period: 1500 to

    Agricultural Evolution

    During this time period, Madagascar was controlled by the French. It produced many crops, including rice, cassava, sugarcane, and coffee. These crops were exported by the French which then gained profit over the Malagasian agriculture.

  • Cyclone I

    Cyclone I
    In 1982 Cyclone Gafilo hit Madagascar bringing many problems to the economy. The cyclone destroyed a great part of the rice production, main Malagasy crop and base of teh Malagasy diet.

  • Cyclone II

    Cyclone II
    In 1984 Cyclone Kamisy hit Madagascar and again damaged a great part of the agricultural production of the country, including: rice, cassava and sweat potatoes.

  • Cyclone III

    Cyclone III
    In 1986 for the third time in 6 years Madagascar was struck by strong cyclones which damaged great part of agricluture which brought social and economic problems to the country.

  • Coffe Breadown

    Coffe Breadown
    In 1989 the International Coffee Organization broke down and the product which used to earn 24% of the GDP in the early 1980s began to earn only 8.6% in the early 1990s and only 1% of the GDP in 2004.

  • 21st century

    In 2004 the main exports were: cassava, 2,191,000 tons; sugarcane, 2,180,000 tons; sweet potatoes, 542,000 tons; potatoes, 280,500 tons; bananas, 290,000 tons; corn, 350,000 tons; and oranges, 83,000 tons.