Officials of the Malagasy state have leased land in three municipalities of the Ihorombe region to the company Tozzi Green for 30 years. Numerous studies have shown the pressures and manipulations exerted by the authorities, at all levels, to force local communities to accept the company’s land use. Some residents refused to the end. Others, among those who agreed, say that they now regret having done so.
Local communities have reported two important pieces of information that we are sharing.
The company and the authorities exert pressure when residents refuse to take responsibility for the security of the company’s tree plantations.
In June 2025, the company had gathered some of the villagers of Satrokala who had agreed to give up land since its arrival, and European visitors were present. At the beginning of the discussion, the company representative explained that the purpose of the meeting was to entrust the villagers with the responsibility of protecting its tree plantations against fires and ensuring safety in the areas where trees had been planted.
The foreigners present had come to check that the inhabitants would commit to doing so. The communities did not accept the proposal. They explained that they had responded to the invitation because they hoped to receive the compensation promised by the company for having taken their lands. The visitors indicated that they would return later to follow up and learn the solution agreed upon between the inhabitants and the company.
In August, the company once again brought together the community of Satrokala to entrust them with the task of monitoring its tree plantations. It was not company representatives who came to speak to them, but the mayor, the prosecutor, and the commander of the gendarmerie group. The residents remained silent, out of fear of these various authorities.
The same thing happened in the commune of Andiolava: the mayor and the commander of the Andiolava gendarmerie brigade convened and led the meeting. The reason for the meeting and the resulting silence of the residents repeated themselves.
The residents have conveyed to civil society organizations that they had long expressed to the company their concern about a worsening of insecurity once the trees have grown and become thicker. The company reportedly responded to these concerns by promising drones and surveillance systems. But so far, as usual, these promises have not been kept, and it is the residents who are called upon to ensure surveillance when insecurity actually prevails in the vast wooded areas.
THE SILENCE OF THE POPULATION SHOULD NOT BE INTERPRETED AS ACCEPTANCE.
It would be interesting to know how foreign visitors interpreted the silence of the population. In other countries, it is not customary to involve administrative authorities and police officers when a company gathers the population, as it is a sign of pressure and intimidation. Foreigners who attended the event were probably surprised; one wonders what explanation was given to them. The residents told us that they felt pressured and intimidated by the police and authorities.
Also, one of the objectives of spreading these facts is to inform non-Malagasy people that the French saying ‘silence implies consent’ does not apply to the Malagasy. First, the community had already refused during the first meeting, but they were brought back as if they would not be released until they agreed. Second, as we have all observed in the history of Madagascar, and the movement organized by young people in Antananarivo since September 25, which has spread to various cities, proves once again, when the Malagasy people seem tolerant and resigned in the face of suffering, it does not mean they agree, because they eventually let their anger explode. Third, the mayor brought in high-ranking figures from the gendarmerie and the judiciary so that the residents would not dare to refuse. But the latter, determined not to accept, remained silent. Is there not a law in Madagascar prohibiting administrative authorities from favoring businesses to the detriment of the population?
It is possible that these meetings with visitors are part of the evaluation process of Tozzi Green’s tree plantations in the Ihorombe region, with a view to obtaining certification related to ‘carbon credit’.
This “carbon credit” business is a way for certain companies, on a global scale, to increase their profits under the pretext that planting trees mitigates climate change. On the other hand, they continue to exploit and pursue activities that pollute the environment, cause significant greenhouse gas emissions, and increase temperatures, droughts, and natural disasters around the world. Many analysts wrote in 2024 that this carbon market involves a lot of deception. We will come back to this later. But in Madagascar, so far, the visible result has been an increase in land grabbing from the population on tens of thousands of hectares in different regions. No reduction in drought has been observed so far, said one resident.
TOZZI GREEN COMPANY OF SATROKALA IHOROMBE HAS A NEW LOCAL DIRECTOR
On September 23 and 30, the company sent a written invitation to a meeting to the residents of Satrokala. The meeting could not take place on September 23; it was held on September 30. For several months, the Italian director of the company and his team had left Satrokala and had been replaced by a director with Asian features, whose true origin was unknown. It was only during this meeting that the residents were informed that the new director was Pakistani.
In addition to the presentation of the company’s new local director, it was announced that the company would conduct a survey on the social, economic, and cultural aspects of the population, and that it would be Malagasy people conducting the surveys in the villages. Did the sight of rather dynamic citizen mobilization in Antananarivo and in cities of other regions raise fears of a surge in local opposition and motivate this new and surprising idea, while Tozzi Green has never taken the time to closely understand the living conditions of the inhabitants whose lands it has seized and exploited for thirteen years now? Or is the company rushing to find another perspective to present because researchers from a European university, who came in March 2025 to investigate the impact of Tozzi Green’s activities on the lives of the inhabitants, are about to publish the results of their study, after the publication of several articles by Italian journalists who came to observe local realities in 2024?
Malagasy and European organizations have already filed a complaint in Europe, in October 2023, against the company Tozzi Green for human rights violations and non-compliance with the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) guidelines applicable to multinational companies, in the context of corn plantation over large areas. In May 2024, an open letter was sent to the Italian government and European banks that financially supported Tozzi Green, concerning the lack of consultation with associations in the municipality of Ambatolahy regarding the tree plantation project.
Other articles will follow regarding the situation and events that occurred in places where state leaders leased community lands to individuals or companies, national or foreign, during this period when it is said that the country is at a turning point.
11 October 2025
Collectif pour la défense des terres malgaches – TANY
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