One little seed

How one seed in the soot made a world of difference for rice farmers in Madagascar 

What could be better than a big bowl of rice? Folks in Madagascar agree; it’s an important part of nutritious meal where other options can be hard to come by. But the country is seeing more and more extreme weather and drought, making it harder to grow.

The Aga Khan Foundation wondered if they could turn things around. What if there was a way to grow more rice in a way that took less labour? Aga Khan agronomist Didier van Bignoot got to work creating farming techniques that are easier on farmers, and that build up the soil. Better soil soaks up both carbon and flood water. He called it Zanatany, which means ‘local’ in Malagasy.  

Drawing on its name and breaking away from tradition, the Zanatany rice cultivation system (the Zanatany System) is based on seven interconnected regenerative farming principles that farmers adopt at their own pace, improving their livelihoods, nutrition, health, and climate resilience.

The system is based around a technique called ‘direct seeding.’ It also includes other techniques for lower-labour, lower-cost farming like compost tea, crop rotation, no-till, and retaining water by leaving spongy rice stalks in the field.

Direct seeding is exactly what it sounds like. Instead of growing rice seedlings, then flooding the field and transplanting—traditional rice farming—you sew the rice grains directly into the ground. By skipping a step, the roots can grow deeper, and the plant can yield much more rice while resisting extreme weather.

Only there was one problem: birds kept pecking up the grains of rice. “It’s a problem that we did not anticipate well,” says Didier, reflecting on the project with innocent foundation volunteer Ursi Kotratschek. But clever Malagasy farmers had a solution. They “cover the rice seeds with domestic ash, which deters birds from pecking the seeds.” You can’t peck what you can’t see. Didier is visibly chuffed: “the beauty here is that we’re in a constant conversation with the farmers.”  

And the conversation is going well. The Aga Khan Foundation’s partnership with the innocent foundation aimed to train 20,000 Malagasy farmers. But the technique was so popular that they reached 23,599 people. Many say that their neighbours are copying the new style of farming.  

Farmers who used the techniques on the farm saw incredible results. Traditional methods yield 0.61 tons per acre. With Zanatany—even in a year with very challenging weather— the lowest recorded yield was 1.42 tons per acre. The highest yield was an incredible 4.05 tons per acre. What’s more, farmers make a saving on fertilizers and labour, and it’s a totally natural method of preserving farmer- and soil health. 

Now the project has funding from the European Commission to scale across Madagascar’s central plateau. The Aga Khan Foundation is planning to take the project to the sub-continent of India too.  

From one little seed, a new style of rice farming is growing and growing.  

To celebrate the innocent foundation’s 20th birthday, we’re looking back at all the stories—big and small—that add up to our great big dream of a world without hunger.  

From one little grain of rice, the Aga Khan Foundation has supported 23,599 farmers, and counting, and every one counts. Follow the link for more on our #EveryOneCounts campaign, www.innocentfoundation.org/every-one-counts 

The Aga Khan Foundation is an international non-profit. In Madagascar, they are working to combat food insecurity by training smallholder farmers in the Zanatany rice permaculture system.

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