ABSTRACT. The semiarid Mahafaly region in southwestern Madagascar is not only a unique biodiversity hotspot, but also one of the poorest regions in the world. Crop failures occur frequently, and despite a great number of rural development programs, no effective progress in terms of improved yields, agricultural income, or well-being among farming households has been observed. In addition to the severe development challenges in the region, environmental degradation and the loss of biodiversity are prevailing issues. This paper takes a social-ecological systems perspective to analyze why the region appears locked in poverty. Specifically, we address the socialecological interaction between environmental factors such as low and variable precipitation, the lack of sustainable intensification in agriculture resulting in recalcitrant hunger, and several environmental degradation trends. The study is based on (i) longitudinal data from 150 farming households interviewed at high temporal resolution during the course of 2014, and (ii) extensive recall surveys from the southwestern Madagascar project region. The analysis reveals a complex interplay of pronounced seasonality in income generation due to recurrent droughts and crop failures making local farmers highly risk averse. This interplay results in a gradual depletion of environmental assets and hinders the accumulation of capital in the hands of smallholder farmers, and improvements in agricultural production even where environmental conditions would allow for it. As a result, households are insufficiently buffered and insured against repetitive income and food security shocks. This can be understood as a set of interacting, partly nested social-ecological traps, which entrench the Mahafalian smallholder population in deep poverty while the productivity of the environment declines. We provide new insights on the interplay between hunger, poverty, and loss of environmental assets in a global biodiversity hotspot. Finally, we propose a set of key issues that need to be considered to unlock this severe lock-in and enable transformation toward a more sustainable development in southwestern Madagascar.

Analytical frameworks provide the basic vocabulary of concepts and terms that may be used to construct the kinds of causal explanations expected of a theory. In addition, framework-based approaches are applied as a way of dealing with the complexity that arises in situations involving human interactions with the environment. This paper presents an example of an application of the "Analytical Framework for a Systemic Analysis of Drivers and Dynamics of Historical Land-Use Changes" with the purpose of showing the role of the selected analytical framework in the design of systemic research, namely as it is conceived and as it develops over time. This analytical framework helps to organize research by linking the theoretical questions to the empirical analysis, while serving as a platform for the construction of theoretical explanations, which represent the flow of knowledge in various contexts and conditions. In the context of systems research, the combination of an analytical framework with grounded theory approaches may allow researchers to achieve both creative thinking and novel outcomes, without losing a certain degree of coherence. We also hope to understand the real motives behind decision-making and dynamics of space and time in order to support the design of policies that take into account local differences.

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The Camëntsá and Inga indigenous communities still rely on agroforestry systems for their livelihood attainment, although globalization effects have also reached their settlements. Agroforestry systems, especially home gardens, are experiencing reduced size and species diversity and therefore gradually disappearing. This research aims to determine the indigenous family labor contribution to agroforestry systems as a strategy to secure their livelihoods. The methods include a census, household survey, interviews with key informants, and direct observation. Family labor contributes to reducing production costs in agroforestry systems. Three groups of households were identified from the cluster analysis to determine the family labor contribution: smaller, medium-sized, and larger farms. The smaller farms register better economic indicators compared to the other two groups. In addition, they show a positive cost–benefit ratio and profitability, which is explained by lower production costs compared to the gross income generated. Although larger farms have higher gross revenues, these households also assume higher production costs and incur higher input costs. Medium-sized farms face the worst scenario. There is a relationship between the use of family labor and the achievement of livelihoods related to economic indicators and biodiversity and the variety of species harvested on farms and used for self-consumption. Family labor helps to ensure local food security and generate income.

Context-adapted interventions are needed to alleviate the burden of food and nutrition insecurity on resource-poor rural households in southeastern Madagascar. The Positive Deviance approach implies identifying locally viable development solutions by focusing on particularly successful, innovative individuals. To identify promising practices that could be promoted as part of food and nutrition security (FNS) interventions in the Atsimo Atsinanana region of southeastern Madagascar, positive deviance was searched among smallholder farmers. Positive deviants are defined as households with overall optimal performance across four aspects of FNS: household-level food security, women’s diet quality, child’s diet quality, and low diarrhea incidence. To identify positive deviants, a two-step procedure was followed. Based on quantitative survey data from 413 rural smallholder households (mother-child pairs) with a child aged between 6 and 23 months, each household’s four performance scores were adjusted by removing the average effects of household resources. Then, households with Pareto-optimal performance were identified regarding the four aspects. Subsequently, 16 positive deviants were revisited and positive deviant practices were identified through in-depth interviews. A set of practices were validated through focus group discussions with local nutrition and agriculture experts. Positive deviant practices include the adoption of agricultural innovation, such as new cash crops, as well as nutrition-sensitive market behaviors and reliance on off-farm activities. In addition, some ethno-cultural factors help to explain positive deviance. These diverse positive deviant practices may serve as examples and inspiration for locally grounded development interventions targeting FNS in southeastern Madagascar.

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