Sleeping with cows

Friday, May 7, 2010

In Madagascar it is unthinkable to have a ceremony without eating zebu meat (an African cow). That is one of the reason that a lot of farmers breed zebu’s. This also goes for Razanamandroso Juliette and her family (consisting of 7 children). They began with two zebu’s, now they own six. Besides breeding zebu’s they grow beans. Because she became member of Fitatsy, a cooperative of bean producers, she can buy good quality seeds for a low price from the organisation.

Before her membership she bought the seeds individually, these seeds were of low quality and the price was high. From farmers in her neighbourhood she heard of the advantages for the members of Fitatsy. This group supplies good seeds and input for a low price and the members sell the beans collectively and can demand higher prices for the products. At least much higher than what the buyers used to offer mrs. Juliette when she sold it to them on her own. Fitatsy has built a storage where the members can store their products, so that they can sell when the demand is high.

Growing beans is less risky than breeding zebu’s. Mrs. Juliette tells that five years ago her father-in-law lost over 30 zebu’s because of theft. He did not have a fence and the zebu’s just walked around in the surroundings of the village, so it was really easy to steal them. He now lives with his son, because after the robbery he impoverished. Nowadays Mrs. Juliette and her husband keep their stock nearby their house and they have built a fence so that their zebu’s cannot walk away. Just after the robbery of the father-in-law’s zebu’s, they slept in shifts to protect their stock, because they were afraid it would happen again.

They use two zebu’s to plough the land and for transporting products. The others are used for breeding and as food for ceremonies, such as weddings and funerals. They decided to grow beans, because beans (and corn) are the most profitable plants in the region. And now that Mrs. Juliette can buy better seeds than before and can sell the beans collectively, she even makes more profit than two years ago. One problem that cannot be solved by Fitatsy are the cyclones: every year, roughly from January till March, the coastal regions of Madagascar are being afflicted by cyclones. The cyclone of March 2009 ruined the harvest of Mrs. Juliette and other farmers completely. Nevertheless they stay optimistic and just start all over again.