Intensive Rice Farming in Madagascar

The paper describes a technique set up in Madagascar for rice production. It is based on irrigation with a minimum quantity of water and the transplanting of very young seedlings (from 15 to 10 or even 8 days) set individually (no tuft). The spacings vary according to local conditions, from 25 x 25 cm (at 1200 m a.s.l.) to 40 x 40 cm at sea level. Yields went from 2 tons paddy per hectare to 8 or even 12 tons with local varieties. Varieties obtained by selection were not more productive than the local ones under rural production techniques in the country.