The Government of Japan and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) have inaugurated three solar-powered agricultural hubs and six nutrition rehabilitation centres in Betioky district in southern Madagascar, where families have lost crops to repeated drought.

The hubs, built under the Rapid Rural Transformation initiative, are equipped with irrigation pumps, food-processing machinery, equipment for income-generating activities and crop-preservation materials. According to WFP they are enabling 1,989 smallholder farmers to grow more nutritious crops, cut post-harvest losses and improve food security. Kyoto University's Graduate School of Energy Science contributes expertise, and the Japanese NGO AMDA-MINDS is developing tilapia aquaculture to diversify livelihoods.

The nine facilities were paid for with a JPY 300 million (US$2.03 million) contribution pledged by Japan in 2025 after the severe drought linked to the 2024 El Niño. A fourth solar hub is planned with a further JPY 100 million (US$666,666) pledged this year. The nutrition centres, known locally as FARNE centres, have screened 1,292 children under five for moderate acute malnutrition, and more than 1,200 women have received entrepreneurship and financial training.

"This investment is helping families produce and preserve more food while bringing nutrition care closer to young children," said Tania Goossens, WFP's country director in Madagascar. Japan's ambassador, Tojima Hitoshi, said the initiative aims to strengthen rural livelihoods and resilience through integrated support in agriculture, nutrition and local development.

The support comes ahead of Madagascar's October to December lean season. The latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis projects that 3.72 million people will face Crisis or worse levels of acute food insecurity during the lean season, including 426,000 at Emergency level, as rainfall deficits and drought worsen in the south under strengthening El Niño conditions.

Photo: SMMIMAGES / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Source: WFP