The Adoption of Upland Rice by Lowland Rice Farmers and Its Impacts on Their Food Security and Welfare in Madagascar

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to examine the impacts of newly adopted upland rice cultivation on lowland rice farmers’ food security and welfare. Using cross-sectional data collected from randomly selected 600 farm households in Vakinankaratra region of Madagascar, this study reveals that the adoption of upland rice cultivation has a positive impact on their food security by substantially increasing total rice production per capita. It also increases households’ food consumption and total consumption per capita. These results imply that upland rice cultivation should receive more attention from policy makers as a feasible instrument for farmers to increase rice production.