In Fizono, a village in the Mahalevona Valley of northeastern Madagascar near Masoala National Park, rice fields lie in small pockets and tools are hard to come by. In this setting, Delien, a young farmer supporting a three-person household, faced a familiar but grinding constraint. In June 2024, he began cultivating rice on land he did not own, renting paddy fields from landowners based in Sambava, a town farther up the coast, in exchange for a share of the harvest. With only himself and his wife doing the labor, the work with just two pairs of hands was slow and exhausting. What would have helped was animal traction: zebu draft power used for plowing. However, the fee would have been 800,000 Malagasy ariary (176 USD) for one planting season, well beyond the household's means.

Determined to find an alternative, Delien built a wooden plow using local materials and knowledge. But the tool struggled in muddy soils, required excessive effort, and failed to properly cut or turn over grass. The challenge was clear: without access to better tools or information, productivity—and food security—would remain fragile. At the beginning of 2025, Delien came to the Ivo-toerana Mirohy local community center in Fizono, part of the Madagascar Solutionscape initiative. Through the center's digital accessibility project, he used AI tools to explore practical solutions, watching videos and examples of farmer-built tools from other contexts. With the help of youth digital coaches and local facilitators, the center provided not only instructions, but access— to ideas, comparisons, and experimentation. Inspired, Delien redesigned his plow. The new version was lighter, more stable in flooded fields, and better at cutting vegetation. The total cost was less than Malagasy ariary 100,000, a fraction of the cost of renting zebu. With the improved plow, Delien was able to cultivate approximately one additional hectare. The results were immediate and tangible. "Harvested rice quantity doubled, and we do not have rice shortage anymore," he says.

Beyond his own household, the change spread. Other farmers began visiting Delien's field to test the plow and learn from his process. Returning regularly to Ivo-toerana Mirohy, he continued refining the tool through hands-on experimentation, passing on what worked through peer-to-peer sharing.

Delien's story shows how access to information can unlock local innovation, especially in a context where farmers have limited access to public extension services and other forms of technical support. By connecting local knowledge with digital tools, the Madagascar Solutionscape enabled a youth-led household to improve livelihoods without external machinery or debt.

This story speaks directly to the Solutionscape’s aim: environmental justice through information access, improved livelihoods, and just land governance. For Delien, access to digital tools and local coaching translated into a redesigned plow and doubled rice production on existing land. What changed for one farmer now seeds resilience and possibilities across Mahalevona.