Smallholder farmers' logic to promote strawberry value chain in the rural Commune of Tsiafahy, Analamanga Régions, Antananarivo

The production of fruits and vegetables offers substantial benefits for smallholder farmers generally. It plays a large role not only on the householdsRSQUO food security but also on their source of income. As the leading producer of strawberry with an annual production of 1300-1500 t in the Analamanga Region, the Commune of Tsiafahy within the District of Atsimondrano is the study area. This research aims to analyse the socio-economic structure of the strawberry and the dynamism of the farmers. The methods adopted have followed three independent steps: the system approach which studies the farming system of the small scale farmers, the finance analysis enabling to highlight the economic importance of the strawberry compared mainly to rice production, and the diagnosis of the strawberry value chain. The results show the existence of three types of producers: landowner vegetable producers, organic strawberry producers, and the producers associating the production of vegetable, horticulture and food crop. The strawberry remains the important production (88% of the surveyed population), followed by rice and maize (66%). Strawberry production is entirely for selling, income main source. The organic producer's yields are important (13 t ha^-1) compared to the first and to the third type. They are respectively 9.5 and 11 t ha^-1. The added value of strawberry is around ten times more important from than rice. Its economic contribution for the smallholder farmers remains significantly low; the main reasons are the still rudimentary farming technique and the difficulty in access to inputs, worsened by the adverse impacts of climate changes. Smallholder farmersRSQUO strategies facing the hazards of strawberry production and its economic role compared to the potential speculations in the area have been assessed. The bottlenecks of the value chain have been highlighted and some appropriate recommendations suggested.