Journal of Agriculture and Rural Development in the Tropics and Subtropics Vol. 121 No. 1 (2020) 63–75 https://doi:10.17170/kobra-202004061143 ISSN: 2363-6033 (online); 1612-9830 (print) – website: www.jarts.info Income Diversification trough Animal Husbandry for Smallholder Vanilla Farmers in Madagascar Stefanie Kunz a, Hendrik Hänke b, Eva Schlecht a,∗ aAnimal Husbandry in the Tropics and Subtropics, University of Goettingen and University of Kassel, Germany bDepartment of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, Research Unit Environmental- and Resource Economics, University of Goettingen, Germany Abstract The SAVA region in northeastern Madagascar is the largest vanilla producing area globally. Here, we investigated the role of animal husbandry (AH) for income diversification of small-scale vanilla farmers. To do this, 300 household heads were interviewed about livestock ownership, management and marketing. This information was complemented by data from 1800 households (HHs) on involvement in vanilla production (VP) and AH. Throughout the region, 83 % of HHs produced vanilla and 84 % kept livestock. Chicken-keeping (72 %) was most prominent, followed by keeping zebus (42 %), ducks (22 %) and pigs (13 %). A moderate correlation existed between VP and AH in general (r=0.356; p < 0:01) and between VP and chicken-keeping (r=0.324; p < 0.05), but none between VP and zebu or pig-keeping. Buying, fattening and reselling one zebu cattle yielded a price span of 9 % relative to the purchasing price, while a plus of 275 % was achieved for purchasing, fattening and reselling a pig. For chicken and ducks, the respective increase in monetary value amounted to 33 % and 49 %. Relating these price spans to the total annual income of a vanilla-producing HH revealed a potential income contribution of AH of up to 18.4 % in case of selling offspring from own cattle and 5 % or less for selling a pig or a chicken. Against the current high vanilla prices, small-scale AH is therefore an only moderately effective income diversification strategy for vanilla farmers in the SAVA region but might contribute to food security. However, in situations of low to intermediate vanilla prices AH most likely plays a more important role and might increase vanilla farmers´ resilience to income shocks. Keywords: livelihood diversification, gross margin, pigs, poultry, vanilla production, zebu cattle 1 Introduction and reached a first peak during 2000 to 2003 (Fig. 1). This peak was followed by a ten-year low vanilla price phase (15- For decades Madagascar has been the most important 50 $ kg−1 of black vanilla), but in 2017 black vanilla prices vanilla-exporting country worldwide, producing more than rose to ≥ 500 $ kg−1 on the world market (Fig. 1). Reasons 60 % of the internationally traded bourbon vanilla, most of for this steep price increase were the high market demand it stemming from the northeastern (NE) SAVA region (Sym- for natural vanilla and a partial destruction of coastal vanilla rise, 2019). Vanilla (Vanilla planifolia Jacks. ex Andrews) plantations through the cyclone Enawo in March 2017 (Fin- cultivation mainly takes place in areas experiencing a trop- ancial Times, 2017a). Such strong and swift fluctuations in ical rainforest climate (MAEP MG, 2003). In Madagascar´s vanilla prices make vanilla production a promising but risky NE SAVA region about 87 % of the rural households (HHs) endeavour (International Trade Center, 2016). are presently involved in this non-mechanized and labour- About 80 % of Madagascar’s citizens are considered ex- intensive activity (Hänke et al., 2018). tremely poor with less than US-$ 1.90 available per person After the liberalisation of the Malagasy vanilla market and day (World Bank, 2017). Still, agricultural revenues in in the mid-1990s, farm gate prices for green and fermen- the SAVA region are amongst the highest in Madagascar: ted black vanilla became highly volatile (Cadot et al., 2009) in 2016 they were estimated at 572 ¤ per person and year ∗ Corresponding author – [email protected] Published online: 7 Mai 2020 – Received: 5 February 2020 – Accepted: 29 April 2020 © Author(s) 2020 – This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License CC BY | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 64 S. Kunz et al. / J. Agr. Rural Develop. Trop. Subtrop. 121 – 1 (2020) 63–75 & Fairtrade International, 2019). Likewise, there is evi- dence that earning off-farm income can be a key livelihood strategy to cope with climate-related shocks, particularly for the rural poor (Asfaw et al., 2019). However, at present the livelihood diversification of Madagascar’s vanilla farm- ers is insufficient, both regarding agricultural diversification and off-farm-income (Hänke et al., 2018, Hänke & Fairtrade International, 2019), making them vulnerable to price fluc- tuations and income shocks. To explore further alternatives for sustaining and diversi- fying agricultural incomes in the SAVA region, the present study analysed the current income contribution of animal Fig. 1: Average global prices for black vanilla during 1999 husbandry, which is largely practiced by the rural popula- to 2019. Source: https://www.cooksvanilla.com/vanilla-market- tion (Hänke et al., 2018) and supplies food, draught power report-a-spaghetti-western-september-2019/ and cash from animal and product sales (Khoabane & Black, 2009). According to Cadot et al. (2009), animal husbandry (Uruena, unpublished1) as compared to the national average contributed approximately 6 % and 22 % of the annual in- per capita income of around 350 ¤ in 2016 (BMZ, 2017). come of vanilla-producing and non-vanilla-producing HHs, However, if the current high vanilla prices would de- respectively, during the period 1993 to 2001, a mid-vanilla- crease substantially or collapse, HHs relying only on vanilla price phase (DRAE, 2018). Since there is a complete lack for their livelihood would be severely affected. In the past of information about the current links between animal hus- vanilla prices went often down so that poverty and liveli- bandry and vanilla production and its direct and indirect hood impoverishment were widespread among vanilla farm- contributions to rural HHs’ livelihoods, this study aimed at ers in Madagascar (Packer, 2008; Brownell, 2011). The characterizing livestock production and its contribution to most recent surveys from the region show that – despite the household income in the vanilla-cultivating SAVA region. presently high vanilla prices – the average Malagasy vanilla The economic potential of animal husbandry with changing farmer is multidimensionally poor (Hänke et al., 2018) and vanilla prices was determined by simulation calculations. well below the extreme poverty line of US-$ 1.90 per per- son per day (Hänke & Fairtrade International, 2019), even 2 Materials and methods though both studies report livelihood improvements among the local farming population. However, high vanilla prices 2.1 Study area region also brought crime (Neimark et al., 2019) and inflation, that The present study was part of the inter- and trans- is, high living costs into the SAVAregion (Hänke & Fairtrade disciplinary research project “Diversity turn in land International, 2019; Llopis et al., 2020). use science: The importance of social diversity for As a general rule, HHs vulnerable to poverty should build sustainable land use innovations using the example resilience to income shocks, whereby income diversification of vanilla farming in Madagascar” (https://www.uni- is discussed as a key strategy (Ellis, 1998; Barrett et al., goettingen.de/en/529181.html), which analyses environ- 2001), also in Madagascar (Neudert et al., 2015). Similarly, mental and (socio-)economic conditions of vanilla farming, it has been empirically demonstrated that livestock plays a and socio-political actors and institutions that are shaping crucial insurance function in other parts of Madagascar par- rural land uses in the SAVA region of Madagascar, taking a ticularly when staple crops fail (Hänke & Barkmann, 2017). diversity-sensitive perspective. Possibilities for income diversification of small-scale vanilla The SAVA region consists of four districts (MAEP MG, farmers in the SAVA region include the cultivation of the 2003; Fig. 2) and its name is an abbreviation of their names staple crop rice, and alternative cash crops such as coffee, (Sambava, Antalaha, Vohémar and Andapa). The four dis- ginger, pepper, cocoa and cloves (MAEP MG, 2003; Hänke tricts differ with respect to topography and climate, which are shaping different agricultural production systems; also 1In 2019 agricultural income was estimated at 538 ¤ per person and year different ethnical groups dominate the districts (MAEP MG, (Hänke & Fairtrade International, 2019). However, we use the unpublished 2003). Sambava and Antalaha are bordering the sea and data from Uruena, since the estimation covers the same year as the present study (2017). Yet, the income estimations from 2016 and 2019 are roughly have a littoral zone of 8 to 15 km width. According to the in line with each other. Köppen-Geiger climate classification system the climate is S. Kunz et al. / J. Agr. Rural Develop. Trop. Subtrop. 121 – 1 (2020) 63–75 65 Fig. 2: Map of the study area, with the 60 villages where the baseline survey was conducted (yellow diamonds) and the 30 villages of the animal husbandry survey (red diamonds, subset of baseline survey villages). classified as Af (tropical rainforest climate), with an average vanilla buyers were found in 2016, commonly including sus- annual temperature of 24.7 °C and a total of 1760 mm of rain tainability standards such as Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance falling throughout the year (Climate Data, https://en.climate- or Organic (Hänke et al., 2018). Comparing our pre-survey data.org/africa/madagascar-177/). This enables the produc- data (Hänke et al., 2018) to official data (CREAM, 2014) tion of perennial cash crops such as vanilla. Tropical rain- and election lists we received, we can roughly estimate that forest climate also prevails in the rather mountainous inland 10-20 % of the regional population was excluded that way.