Saraka sowing: the production of General Rabemanantsoa Robert reached more than 15 tons. Retired senior officer who held a senior position in the Malagasy military at the time. Interested in growing rice...

He first turned the swamp into a rice field, and the results in the southern district of Antananarivo impressed those who saw him. Neighboring farmers were even more surprised to see their rice harvest this year despite water problems in southern Antananarivo; a district that suffered the most from the lack of water to irrigate the rice fields due to delayed rainfall in Analamanga.

General Rabemanantsoa Robert proved that climate change is not an obstacle and a problem for production, but that a creative mind is needed to develop production technology to achieve good results. He applied his research, SARAKA seedlings. A technique he imagined in collaboration and conversation with Father Henri de Laulanier, but later improved, and which he applied to the previous agricultural year.

General Rabemanantsoa Robert's harvest this year was 15 tons per hectare. He planted in November and used SARAKA seedlings. The sown rice was watered until it rained, so observers had little confidence in its potential success. This was not the case, however, as the SARAKA seedlings he had applied were bearing fruit. Coinciding with the knowledge of the life of rice, this SARAKA sowing says Papa Bio or Ranaivoarisoa Basile. Farmers need to know what rice life is like if they want to increase rice yields. The problems still need to be solved at home.