108. An increasing number of agricultural value chains are being organized around contract
farming schemes in Madagascar. A growing body of evidence – global and from Madagascar –
points to the effectiveness of contractual relationships in spurring better linkages of small farmers
to agricultural markets. Contract farming spans a wide array of value chains, although it still
concerns only 10 percent of the roughly 2.5 million farms operating in Madagascar. One of the
most studied contract farming schemes in Madagascar is the centralized model developed by the
firm Lecofruit. Today, more than 14,000 farmers from the Central Highlands are involved in the
production of green beans and a number of other vegetables for the export market. The additional
income generated by this off-season production amounts to more than Ariary 400,000 per
contracting household. As with a number of other value chains, more farmers could be included in
this contract farming scheme if two key constraints are addressed, namely: improved road access
to rural communities, and increased capacity to train farmers in specific production techniques (in
the case of Lecofruit, farmers require training on production and quality control, and the use of the
drip irrigation equipment that is supplied by the company).