Strategies of smallholder farmers for coping with the impacts of cyclones: A case study from Madagascar

Madagascar has one of the highest rates of cyclones globally and a population comprised primarily of smallholder farmers, yet there is little information on how Malagasy smallholder farmers prepare for and cope with the cyclones. This paper presents the results of interviews with Malagasy farmers following the impacts of cyclone Giovanna that struck in 2012. It was found that farmers coped with the cyclone by several means such as replanting crop fields, rebuilding homes with local materials or reducing consumption of staple foods.

However, there is an urgent need for governments, donors and development organizations to reduce the vulnerability of Malagasy smallholder farmers to cyclones by:

• Improving early warning systems
• Increasing farmer preparedness for cyclones
• Creating formal safety nets to helo farmers access food and supplies
• Promoting the use of adaptation measures to enhance resilience

International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, Volume 17, August 2016, Pages 114-122. This article is licenced under a Creative Commons Licence Attribution 4.0 International.