Integration of Lovatsara liquid fertilizer with seasonal irrigated culture: a safe and efficient economic model, guaranteeing access to microcredit and sustainable family agriculture for the Sofia Region.

Environment

Agriculture plays an important role in the world's food, economic and environmental challenges. Each country has its own production structure that responds to these challenges, highlighting the need to characterize and understand the diversity of forms of agricultural production, as well as their strategies and performance. In Madagascar, family farming is a structure managed by a family of 4 to 6 people on average, owning a small area of 30 to 200 ares [1] inherited from their grandparents. Farming tasks are carried out by each family member, supported by mutual aid between families in the rural community and by non-market exchanges. Production tools are rudimentary, with low yields, which makes it difficult for them to access micro-credit. Expenditure is essentially allocated to food, due to the high cost of food. In the Sofia region, family farming is dominated by single-parent, female-headed households. A small area of 0.7 or 1 are ensures the satisfaction of their minimum daily needs. The harvest is intended for self-consumption and sale. Faced with climate change, shrinking arable land, declining soil fertility and low production yields, their resources are no longer able to meet their minimum needs on a sustainable basis. This article highlights two different research results. The first is "Lovatsara liquid fertilizer", obtained as part of this research work, while the second is the various advantages and benefits received by farmers in the aforementioned region from the practice of dry-season off-season irrigated cultivation through the FLID (Farmer-Led Irrigation Development) project [2], which highlights the importance of dry-season irrigation for growing off-season market garden crops. The integration of these two results within the framework of this research has made it possible to develop a viable economic model guaranteeing household access to micro-credit while promoting the development of sustainable agriculture. Two different projects were carried out with a view to applying the economic model developed in a real environment. The first project concerns short-cycle breeding of "akoho gasy amélioré", while the second involves the cultivation of 1.7 ha of maize. Several member households of the KMM-Androna cooperative were involved in both the short-cycle breeding and maize cultivation projects. The results of these projects are convincing, proving that: - Short-cycle breeding requires an initial investment of Ar 4,451,453, necessitating a bank loan of Ar 4,007,453 and a contribution of Ar 444,000 from the promoter. This investment generated a cash flow of Ar 8,746,210, confirming that the amount borrowed by these households will be recovered before the end of the second "improved akoho gasy" breeding cycle; - Maize cultivation over an area of 1.7 ha required an initial investment of Ar 2, 665, 870, requiring a bank loan of Ar 1,665,870 and a contribution of Ar 1,000,000 from the promoter. This investment has enabled some member households of the KMM Androna cooperative to enjoy a better quality of life than before, with a cash-flow of Ar 4 141 062, cumulative for the three successive years, an Internal Rate of Return (IRR) of 43.2 and a Return on Capital Employed (ROCE) of 17 months, i.e. within one year and five months, and they can borrow again in the same way as before.

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