Mandritsara is a city and commune (commune urbain, mg, kaominina) in northern

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 ...

Mandritsara Mandritsara is a city and commune (commune urbain, mg, kaominina) in northern Madagascar. It belongs to the Districts of Madagascar, district of Mandritsara District, Mandritsara, which is a part of Sofia Region. The population of the commune w ...

, which is a part of Sofia Region. The population of the commune was estimated to be approximately 17,000 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 ...

. Farming and raising livestock provides employment for 40% and 35% of the working population. 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

peanut The peanut (''Arachis hypogaea''), also known as the groundnut, goober (US), pindar (US) or monkey nut (UK), is a legume crop grown mainly for its edible Seed, seeds. It is widely grown in the tropics and subtropics, important to both small ...

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 25% of the population.

Education

In addition to primary schooling the town offers secondary education at both junior and senior levels. The Social Sciences Training and Research Unit (UFRSS) is the Mandritsara branch of the

University of Mahajanga A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase ''universitas magistrorum et scholarium'', which rou ...

Healthcare

Mandritsara is home to Hopitaly Vaovao Mahafaly, a hospital which aims to show God’s love to those in need and to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ to every patient. It has 57 inpatient beds, maternity facilities, and the only operating theatre for a 200km radius.

Transport

* RN 32 * Mandritsara is served by a local

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...

References and notes

Cities in Madagascar Populated places in Sofia Region {{SofiaMG-geo-stub