TY - BOOK ED - World Bank Group. ED - World Bank Group. TI - Madagascar Economic Update, December 2016 T2 - Economic Updates and Modeling PY - 2016/// CY - Washington, D.C. PB - The World Bank KW - Agricultural Sector Economics KW - Agriculture KW - Commodity Prices KW - Economic Growth KW - Fiscal & Monetary Policy KW - Macroeconomics and Economic Growth KW - Monetary Policy KW - Public Finance KW - Rural Development KW - Rural Development Strategy & Policy KW - Trade N2 - Even though a large majority of poor households are engaged in agriculture, per capita productivity and real levels of sectoral growth remain low in Madagascar. Approximately 80 percent of the population are engaged in agriculture, which provides the main source of income for households, albeit at subsistence levels. Cultivation practices are based on extensification strategies with implications for Madagascar's fragile natural resource base, rather than improving the productivity of existing farms and land use. To ensure Madagascar's growth prospects more inclusively benefit the entire population it will be crucial to improve the productivity of the agriculture sector. The first part of the this economic update has the World Bank's assessment of recent economic developments and the outlook over the short to medium term in Madagascar. The second part of this update focuses on Agriculture and Rural Development UR - http://elibrary.worldbank.org/doi/book/10.1596/25745 ER -