Influences of Cash Crops Price Fluctuations on Household Strategies and Landscape Dynamics

Abstract

In the Mananara-Nord Biosphere Reserve, the prices fluctuation of cash crops is a very important hazard for local populations whose local economy is heavily dependent on them. The objective of this study was to analyze where this price fluctuation comes from and how it affects landscape transformation and forest cover dynamics. Based on both quantitative and qualitative analysis, the study is particularly important because it highlights the underlying causes of deforestation at different international, national and local scales. It also helps to understand that household strategies are dynamic and reflect competition between agroforestry systems, food production systems and forest exploitation systems.