Moderate prosperity in Itasy: An adaptation of the middle class concept in Malagasy rural area

We discuss and test the relevance of the adaptation of the controversial sociological concept of "middle class" in African rural areas. For this, we propose the "moderate prosperity" concept and apply it to the Malagasy Itasy region. We argue that in Madagascar as in agriculture-based countries, focus on the rural areas, for a middle class mapping, appears essential given the importance of agriculture and the rural sector in the economy. Such framework aims to emphasize the rural dynamics and the understanding of ongoing socioeconomic changes and development processes of these countries. Adopting a case study, we use data with detailed modules on 510 households from the ROR, particularly the Observatory of Itasy in 2008. We first identify the moderate prosperity households in the top three quintiles of the annual gross income per capita distribution. Then, we complement this stratificationist income-based approach by a multidimensional classification of the identified households taking simultaneously their head's education level, their income structure and the form of their rice land ownership. We describe five different moderate prosperity clusters that reflect the agro-economic conditions of the four sites composing the Itasy region : (i) the large vulnerable moderate prosperity of non-agricultural and livestock farmers with formal land title but with non-educated household's head, (ii) the traditional moderate prosperity of non-educated rice farmers with large holdings, (iii) the emerging moderate prosperity of polyculture farmers with a higher education level and traditional land ownership, (iv) the upper moderate prosperity group of skilled non-agricultural workers composed mostly of schoolmasters and administrative and (v) the low moderate prosperity of smallholders in independents and non-farm activities with a higher education level but without any land secure tenure.