Madagascar
- 1.64 million
- people are food insecure and need humanitarian assistance
- 334,000
- people in the Grand Sud are facing emergency level of food insecurity
- 25.6 million
- population
The world’s fourth largest island, Madagascar boasts a unique ecosystem, with many species of plants and animals found nowhere else. However, the country has faced challenges in its socio-economic development and in recent decades it has experienced a stagnation in per capita income and a rise in absolute poverty. Political instability undermines government institutional capacity, economic growth and development efforts. It also reduces people's access to basic services and their ability to prevent and recover from frequent shocks such as climate-related disasters.
With a gross domestic product per capita of US$422, the country is ranked 164 out of 189 according to the 2020 Human Development Index. Affecting almost half of all children under 5 – the world’s tenth highest rate – chronic malnutrition is considered as one of major public health concern in Madagascar. The costs associated with child undernutrition represent 14.5 percent of the country’s GDP.
What the World Food Programme is doing in Madagascar
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Disaster preparedness and response
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Ahead of cyclones, WFP prepositioned food in strategics areas for a faster response as needed. After the hit, WFP raced to reach people affected by cyclones distributing food and cash assistance, offering logistics support to the emergency response and liaising with humanitarian and governmental partners. WFP also reinforced its UN Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) to conduct assessment, access to communities and deliver cargo to hard-to-reach areas while helping farming families to build their resilience and adapt to climate extremes.
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Food assistance
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In the Grand Sud region, where food insecurity levels are highest, WFP is targeting to reach a million vulnerable people with emergency food assistance, combined with supplementary food to prevent malnutrition and malnutrition treatment for children under 5.
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Nutrition
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WFP provides support for the prevention of malnutrition and vitamin and mineral deficiencies among women, men, boys and girls. It also supports the Government’s efforts to increase the availability of high-quality fortified foods, in line with national commitments under the Scaling Up Nutrition initiative.
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School feeding
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WFP provides school meals with the support of the Ministry of National Education and is helping to develop a national school feeding policy and a home-grown school feeding programme linked to smallholder farm production. This will help diversify food consumption, increase school retention rate and improve children’s ability to learn.
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Support to smallholder farmers and resilience building
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WFP works with the Government to improve smallholder farmers’ livelihoods and resilience to climate shocks by strengthening their skills and ability to access and use productive assets, climate information, financial services and markets. WFP will focus on understanding and addressing the challenges faced by women in rural communities, who are often cut out from owning land and agricultural assets, and face discriminatory customary practices.
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Emergency preparedness and response
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WFP supports the National Disaster Management Authority and the national institute of statistics in integrating the food security, vulnerability and nutrition assessments of different agencies into a single process that operates from the village to the national level. Backed by climate early warning, seasonal forecasts and seasonal agricultural data, this approach will enable government, humanitarian and development actors to implement preparedness and early response actions as part of a comprehensive, shock and gender-responsive social protection system.
Madagascar news releases
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Find out more about the state of food security in Madagascar
Visit the food security analysis pageOperations in Madagascar
Contacts
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Madagascar