Tanora Miatrika: the face of rural youth rising up in front of the pandemic

FACEBOOK

The association FAHITA or Fikambanana Anovozana Haivao Iombonan’ny Tanora eny Ambanivohitra, has been working since 2012 on the mobilization, sensitization, and training of rural youth in over 12 regions in partnership with FORMAPROD, an IFAD program in Madagascar. FAHITA advocates turning rural youth into champions of change in areas such as:

  • Innovation
  • Agribusiness
  • Job creation. 

 Since the spread of the Covid19, this organization has been researching into the consequences of the pandemic over the malgasy youth’s economic activities. The obstacles faced by the rural youth of the country include a decrease in the availability of agricultural inputs and a raise in their cost, a reduction and even suspension of productivity, an increase in insecurity due to theft, a decrease in the sale prices of their products, the closure of markets, negative impact in the quantity and quality of food available in the households, and in general, the decrease of the cash income. 

To face this new scenario and to respond to the demands of young people in this pandemic context, FAHITA, together with PROCASUR, has implemented the TANORA MIATRIKA COVID19 initiative within the framework of the YouthTools project, the first stage of which was to raise awareness and educate about prevention measures and finally hold a contest for rural youth businesses and provide them with resources to mitigate the economic effects of the pandemic.

 

Nearly 70 young entrepreneurs applied to this call for small grants for youth-lead agribusiness that mainly had problems with the commercialisation of their products. What do these young people do? They are agro-entrepreneurs where the most recurrent activity is horticulture, followed by the production of maize, beans and vegetables. They are also young people who have dedicated themselves to the livestock sector, where dairy cows and poultry are the main focus. 

10 grants applications from Anamalanga and Atsinanana region were selected by a committee composed by FORMAPROD, FAHITA and PROCASUR. 

Below you can watch, for example, the testimony of Francis, who at the age of 20 had a staff of 5 workers in his duck breeding enterprise and who now, thanks to the monetary support received, is able to employ a total of 8 young people in his territory. Or you can listen to Noelson, a farmer who, thanks to the aid received, has acquired an oxen plough, a sprayer and a sprinkler with which he hopes to be able to recover and double his production in two more years:

 

VIDEO 1
VIDEO 2