The Famine Early Warning Systems Network monitors price trends for staple foods in countries vulnerable to food insecurity. For each FEWS NET country and region, the Price Bulletin provides a set of tables showing the monthly prices at the current campaign in selected urban centers and allowing users to compare current trends to both five-year average prices, an indication of seasonal trends, and prices from the previous year.
Locally produced rice is the most important staple food for households in northern and central Madagascar. Imported rice is a less preferred substitute, but often consumed by poor households, because it is cheaper than locally produced rice and expands in volume during cooking. Dried cassava is the main staple in the south, although it is consumed in other parts of the country during the lean season when household food stocks are low. Maize is the third most important staple and the second most consumed cereal in Madagascar. Harvests of cereals and tubers generally take place between May and July. The peak of the main lean season is in February. Antananarivo, the capital, is the largest urban market and is the main hub for the country’s commodity food trading networks. Antananarivo is a net consumer of staple foods and is supplied by imports from the port of Toamasina and key surplus production areas throughout the country. Antsirabe, the second largest urban market, is located in the surplus rice production area of Vakinankaratra and one of the markets that supply Antananarivo. Located on the eastern coast, Toamasina is the main port city of Madagascar, where a large quantity of imported products arrive before be marketed throughout the country. The south of Madagascar, including the markets of Ambovombe, Tsihombe, Amboasary and Fianarantsoa, are the main suppliers of cassava and corn.
