Meet Suzy from Madagascar

Catholic Relief Services’ agriculture programs in Madagascar and around the world help farmers in the poorest communities improve their harvests using environmentally-sensitive techniques that preserve the land for future generations. These programs reflect the Catholic social teaching principle Care for God’s Creation.

My name is Suzy Razafindrafara and I am a farmer in Madagascar. A few years ago, CRS and its partner Caritas Antsirabe came to our village and told us about a new way to plant rice called the System for Rice Intensification. When I heard it, the idea sounded a little crazy. How could using less water and fewer seeds bring a larger harvest? My neighbors laughed at me for trying it. But when my fields yielded one and a half times more rice than theirs, no one laughed anymore. Instead, people in the village asked me to teach them the new method too.

This new way of planting requires more work. We used to flood our fields to get rid of the weeds, but we learned that this damages the roots of the rice plants. Now we weed by hand, a task that takes four people two whole days to complete. The extra work is worth it. Before CRS came to our village, my family was only able to grow enough rice to feed ourselves for about ten months. Now our rice crop lasts the whole year. We often have extra rice to sell, which helps us pay for our children’s school fees. Sometimes we even have enough money to buy little luxuries, like a battery powered television set. Now every farmer in my village is using this new planting method, and we are all enjoying better harvests.