Mahavelo is a town and commune in

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

. It belongs to the

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

Farafangana Farafangana is a city (commune urbaine) on the south-east coast of Madagascar and capital of the Atsimo-Atsinanana region. Location Farafangana is the capital of the region Atsimo-Atsinanana located approximately 400 kilometres south of the cap ...

, which is a part of

Atsimo-Atsinanana Region Atsimo-Atsinanana (South East) is a region in Madagascar. Its capital is Farafangana. The region used to be part of the Fianarantsoa Province. The region extends along the southern part of the east coast of Madagascar. It is bordered by Vatovavy-F ...

. The population of the commune was estimated to be approximately 8,000 in 2001 commune

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...

. Only primary schooling is available. The majority 98% of the population of the commune are farmers. The most important crop is

rice Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima ''Oryza glaberrima'', commonly known as African rice, is one of the two domesticated rice species. It was first domesticated and grown i ...

, while other important products are

banana A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus ''Musa''. In some countries, bananas used for cooking may be called "plantains", distinguis ...

coffee Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulant, stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world. S ...

and

cassava ''Manihot esculenta'', common name, commonly called cassava (), manioc, or yuca (among numerous regional names), is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America. Although a perennial plant, cassava is extensively ...

. Services provide employment for 1.5% of the population. Additionally fishing employs 0.5% of the population.

References and notes

Populated places in Atsimo-Atsinanana {{AtsimoAtsinanana-geo-stub