Although Madagascar is a poor country, acquiring food does not seem to be a problem. Well-tended fields are ubiquitous. Farmers, male and female, young and old, toil in the fields, turning the heavy soil with the aid of ox-pulled ploughs, planting rice by hand in the flooded fields, digging irrigation canals, and tending the cattle that graze on the narrow strips of grass between the fields.
Crops grown include rice, maize, coconut, cassava, tomatoes, yams, barley, bananas, green beans and other beans, sugar cane, sweet potato, vanilla, and, of course, the famous (and tasty) Madagascar pepper. Tobacco is also grown as a cash crop.
Flooded rice fields are ubiquitous in Madagascar.
Planting rice by hand is a wet-footed, back-breaking job. Each rice seedling is planted individually.
The bright green fields contain rice plant seedlings.
In addition to zebu cattle, farm animals include goats, sheep, pigs and chickens. Fish supplement the diet. The results of all these efforts are sold at colourful and lively markets, which are everywhere and seemingly operate all week long.
