Clove based cropping systems on the east coast of Madagascar: how history leaves its mark on the landscape

Clove based cropping systems on the east coast of Madagascar: how history leaves its mark on the landscape

Clove farming developed on the east coast of Madagascar a little over a century ago. The species is largely cultivated and farmed by communities of smallholders. This study aims to characterize clove based cropping systems. There are three types of coexisting clove systems: monoculture where clove i...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Agroforestry systems Vol. 93; no. 4; pp. 1577 - 1592
Main Authors: Arimalala, Natacha, Penot, Eric, Michels, Thierry, Rakotoarimanana, Vonjison, Michel, Isabelle, Ravaomanalina, Harisoa, Roger, Edmond, Jahiel, Michel, Leong Pock Tsy, Jean-Michel, Danthu, Pascal
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01-08-2019
Springer Nature B.V
Springer Verlag
Subjects:
Agricultural history
Agricultural sciences
Agriculture
Agroforestry
Agronomy
Annual rainfall
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Cassava
Coastal environments
Cropping systems
Crops
Forestry
Fruit trees
Jackfruit
Life Sciences
Monoculture
Motivation
Parks
Sole cropping
Sugar
Sugarcane
Trees
Typology
Vanilla
Vines
Madagascar
Complex agroforestry system
Clove tree monoculture
Madagascar
Smallholder strategy
Agricultural history
Parklands
Syzygium aromaticum
Parkland
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Summary:Clove farming developed on the east coast of Madagascar a little over a century ago. The species is largely cultivated and farmed by communities of smallholders. This study aims to characterize clove based cropping systems. There are three types of coexisting clove systems: monoculture where clove is the sole crop with inter-rows covered by wild grasses, agricultural parklands where clove is associated with annual crops (rain fed rice, sugar cane, cassava) and finally complex agroforestry systems where clove is associated with other crops (vanilla), fruit trees (lychees, breadfruit, jackfruit) and pepper vines, as well as some forest trees. The study also shows that the majority of existing clove trees in the various cropping systems are over 50–60 years old. Our study aims to characterise the different clove based cropping systems with the intention of establishing a typology by measuring biometric criteria associated with clove trees, by determining the accompanying species and by characterising the horizontal and vertical structuration of plots. From these observations, we suggest some evolutionary hypotheses of clove systems in an attempt to resituate this typology in a historical dynamic implicating the agricultural history of the east coast of Madagascar and the evolution of the smallholders’ strategies.
ISSN:0167-4366
1572-9680
DOI:10.1007/s10457-018-0268-9