Project Description

Huile sur toile

Dimensions : 42 cm x 54 cm

Signed lower right Randria

Three cotton in Madagascar

Randria (20th century Malagasy school)

The development of the cotton economy in Madagascar (Gerald Donque)

To consider the map of the current cotton plantations of the island, we are first struck by their apparent dispersion. With the exception of the Eastern Escarpment and the North-West, too humid and above all too regularly watered, almost all regions of Madagascar offer a favorable climate for growing cotton. The Malagasy highlands themselves, thanks to their climate with a contrasting rainfall pattern, allow the cultivation of this shrub. Certainly, it would be appropriate to first enrich the land in organic matter, and protect them against erosion. The Sakay region, where these prerequisites have been met, could become cotton area. Some cultivation attempts, moreover without future were made in the sectors of Paysannat d'Ankily (Ihosy region), of Solila (Fianarantsoa region) and of Soavina (Ambatofinandrahana region).

juxtaposed in Madagascar, in distinct geographical areas, three ways of growing cotton : cultivation under rain (called dry), traditionally practiced by Malagasy peasants around their huts, and which develops mainly in the province of Tulear ; the irrigated culture on which the future of cotton in this same province seems to rest ; recession culture, mainly located in the province of Majunga.

Another Malagasy work is offered to you.