1. Geographical position
Stretched across 1,500 Km. from north to south and 600 Km. from east to west, Madagascar has 5,000 Km. long shores and is ideally placed to act as a liaison between Africa and Asia.

2. Natural factors
Wider than France and Benelux put together, Madagascar’s immense and diverse cultivable lands are still largely unexploited or underexploited. The island’s pedologic variety can support vegetables, legumes, fruits, cereals, potatoes, oleaginous plants, cotton, cane, tobacco, rent farming, industrial farming and breeding. This pedologic diversity is supported by an important hydraulic mesh, excepts in the South where draughts are frequent.

3. Climate
Climates in Madagascar are as diversified as the soils, and coupled together they present ideal conditions to supports different cultures in different areas.

4. Demography
Population in 2005 was estimated at 17,885,000 inhabitants, 75% of which live in the country. In 2003, there were approximately 2,394,000 farmers.
This show the importance of agriculture, seeing that four people out of five make a living out of it.

At the moment, manpower is sufficient to develop agribusiness, and coupled to the immense natural riches, all that is needed is a strong political willingness.

In contrast with the island’s potentialities, agribusiness still has a marginal role in Madagascar’s economy, because of technological lag and the predominance of subsistence agriculture.

[For further informations... ]