How funds enable the Government and the World Food Programme to ensure people are informed and prepared
Emerencienne Razafindratombo grows rice and vanilla on plots of land given to her family by relatives. On a good day, such as a market day, they can sell up to 100 cups of rice for US$3 a go... 27 March 2024 was not a good day.
Cyclone Gamane struck the north and northeast of Madagascar. The Government declared a state of emergency as 20,000 homes and shelters were destroyed, 22,000 people were displaced, while 220,000 were left in need of humanitarian assistance.
"I had never seen so much water," says Razafindratombo, who lives with her husband Arijaona Jocelyn and their seven children in the village of Tanambao Vao near Sambava, the capital of Sava, one of the regions that suffered most.
"The cyclone flooded my vanilla field, and I still have no idea what next year's crop - which will be my first - will be like."
Indeed, the smell of vanilla is everywhere in Tanambao Vao - vanilla and rice are the main crops in Sava, while coconut, cocoa, coffee and fruit trees are also cultivated.
Vanilla sells for around US$7-US$11 per kilo locally. Arijaona Jocelyn collects wood and makes charcoal to sell at a bigger market in a neighbouring village, but it takes him an hour and a half to get there.
"Women do the shopping and cooking," he says. "Men are responsible for collecting firewood and taking it to the market. We cannot assign this task to our daughters for safety reasons and because we know child labour is prohibited."
The days after the cyclone passed were hard. Razafindrtombo could no longer sell rice because people were still not allowed to go out. For three months, people suffered from reduced access to food.
"We were temporarily housed in Government buildings," she says.
"Many also had their food stocks flooded. When allowed to go out again, we collected fruits like fontsy (banana) or soanambo (breadfruit) in the forest. We ate everything that didn't kill us."
The price of a cup of rice rose from US$0.08 to US$0.21, "which was simply unaffordable".
"If you do not go out to look for food during the day, you have nothing to put on your plate for dinner," says Razafindratombo. "It is only on special occasions, such as Independence Day (26 June), that we can afford to spend extra and buy meat or vegetables. The children suffered as much as we did."
Hers was among 30,000 families the World Food Programme (WFP) assisted between June and August for the first three-month food distribution of rice, pulses and vegetable oil. "This vital support allowed us to diversify our diet instead of eating maize every day," she adds.
Six months on, families are still absorbing the shock from Gamane while access to food remains curtailed. The rice harvest, which was due in October, is not yet ripe as few were able to plant rice ahead of the current cyclone season. The vanilla plant has started to bloom, but Razafindratombo is not sure about the harvest quality because of the floods.
In the first four months of 2025, Sambava and Vohémar are on course for a food crisis, according to the latest analysis, during which time the Government expects five systems to strike.
In response, WFP, in partnership with CARE International, launched a second phase of food assistance for 72,000 people that ends in January.
WFP provides cash transfers and distributes family rations of rice, pulses and vegetable oil while targeting malnutrition among women, girls and children through distributing specialized nutritious food.
"Our main challenge will be to reach remote communities with cash and in-kind assistance now that the rainy season has started," says WFP's Emergency Programme Officer Lala Randrianary.
WFP is working with Madagascar's meteorological service to disseminate cyclone forecasts to communities - at least four are expected.
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"We are pre-positioning strategic stocks of high-energy biscuits in the north to ensure that we are ready for distribution within the first 72 hours of a cyclone making landfall," says Jules Lyothier, a WFP emergency preparedness and response officer.
Emerencienne Razafindratombo is also preparing for projected cyclones.
"We usually strengthen the roof of the house," she says. "If there is any coming danger, we are asked by the local authorities to move to a safe area. We are informed that the cyclone season will not spare us. All we can do is pray that the storms do not cause too much damage
WFP's emergency response in Madagascar in 2024 was made possible thanks to the support of partners such as the People's Republic of China, the European Union, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Canada, Germany, Türkiye, the UN Central Emergency Evolving Fund, the US Agency for International Development (BHA) and France.
