Itasy Region

Itasy Region is divided into three districts, which are sub-divided into 51 communes.

• Arivonimamo District – 22 communes
• Miarinarivo District – 12 communes
• Soavinandriana District – 15 communes

• Arivonimamo Airbase

The National road 1, National road 1bis and National road 43 cross this region.

There are 58 rivers in Itasy. 21 rivers flow in Miarinarivo District, 17 rivers in Arivonimamo District and 20 in Soavinandriana District. 3,500 ha are covered by lakes: there are 40 lakes in Miarinarivo, 9 in Soavinandriana and 2 in Arivonimamo.^[5]

The region of Itasy is named after Lake Itasy, the fourth largest lake in Madagascar. The lake is in Ampefy, 120 km from the capital city of Antananarivo.

According to the ONTM (Office National de Tourism de Madagascar), more 60% of domestic tourists from the capital city use this as their short-stay holiday destination each year. However, this still amounts to less than 200 tourists per day, or up to 1200 tourists per day on national holidays. Ampefy, by lake Itasy, is the main tourist town.

The region is famous for several features:

• Lake Itasy, which is a source of livelihood for 3000 fisherman, with over 100 small canoes out daily;
• The monument of the Virgin Mary, on the edge of the lake, marking the very centre of the country;
• The isle of the Lake Itasy King, with a stone circle;
• The two Lily Waterfalls, of which the first is 16 m high by 35 m wide and the second over 22 m high, but not as wide;
• The Analavory Chute, which is over 20 m high;
• Over 20 small lakes;
• Boating and trekking experiences;
• The Analavory geysers, which are coldwater geysers that occasionally reach a height of nearly 3 m and have formed high travertine mounds;
• An ancient double-moated hillfort which can be seen near the town of Soavinandriana;
• Substantial numbers of huge extinct volcanic craters, some with crater lakes; and
• Lemurs' Park, which is seen at PK 22 (22 km) en route to Lake Itasy from the capital city.

Base of the economy is agriculture. Main crops and their size of cultivation (ha) are:

• Rice (66000 ha)
• Peanut (37279 ha)
• Maize (37279 ha)
• Manioc (22872 ha)
• Beans (12204 ha)
• Potatoes (9211 ha)
• Bambara groundnut (4836 ha)
• Tomatoes (4168 ha)
• Sweet potatoes (1377 ha)
• Ananas (3135 ha)
• sugar cane (222ha)

There is also cattle breeding. Itasy produces 2.7% of the zebu bread in Madagascar and 4,9 % of the porc that is raised in Madagascar.^[6]

• Antananarivo Province