Seasonal Poverty in Madagascar: Magnitude and Solutions

Benoit Dostie (), Steven Joe Haggblade () and Josée Randriamamonjy

No 02-09, Cahiers de recherche from HEC Montréal, Institut d'économie appliquée

Abstract: Seasonal reductions in food consumption pull about one million Malagasy below the poverty line during the lean season. There they join the nine million more who remain chronically undernourished throughout the year. Because the seasonality of food shortages coincides with the increased prevalence of diarrhea and other diseases during the rainy season, the resulting lean season exacts a heavy toll in the form of increased rates of malnutrition and child mortality. Combining the results of recent field studies with a seasonal multi-market model, this paper measures the probable impacts of three common interventions aimed at combatting seasonal food insecurity. We find the most promising interventions to be those that increase agricultural productivity of the secondary food crops such as cassava, other roots and tubers, and maize.

Keywords: Africa; Madagascar; Price Seasonality; Poverty; Agriculture; Multi-markets Models. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2002-09
View list of references View citations in EconPapers

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
Journal Article: Seasonal poverty in Madagascar: magnitude and solutions (2002)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:iea:carech:0209

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
Institut d'économie appliquée HEC Montréal 3000, Chemin de la Côte-Sainte-Catherine Montréal, Québec H3T 2A7

The price is Free.

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Cahiers de recherche from HEC Montréal, Institut d'économie appliquée
Address: Institut d'économie appliquée HEC Montréal 3000, Chemin de la Côte-Sainte-Catherine Montréal, Québec H3T 2A7
Contact information at EDIRC.
Series data maintained by Patricia Power ().