Manja is a town and commune ( mg, kaominina) 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 county, counties, several municipality, municipa ...

of Manja, which is a part of

Menabe Region Menabe is a region in western Madagascar, with its capital at Morondava. It covers an area of , and its population was 700,577 in 2018. The population mostly belongs to the Sakalava ethnic group. The region is named after the 18th-century Sakalava ...

. The population of the commune was estimated to be approximately 30,000 as of 2015 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 in ...

. Manja is served by a local

Manja Airport Manja Airport is an airport in Manja, Menabe Region, Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island coun ...

. In addition to primary schooling the town offers secondary education at both junior and senior levels. The town provides access to hospital services to its citizens. It is also a site of industrial-scale mining. The majority 80% of the population of the commune are farmers, while an additional 17% receives their livelihood from raising livestock. The most important crop is

rice Rice is the seed of the grass species '' Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly '' Oryza glaberrima'' (African rice). The name wild rice is usually used for species of the genera '' Zizania'' and ''Porteresia'', both wild and domestica ...

, while other important products are

bean A bean is the seed of several plants in the family Fabaceae, which are used as vegetables for human or animal food. They can be cooked in many different ways, including boiling, frying, and baking, and are used in many traditional dishes t ...

cassava ''Manihot esculenta'', 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 cultivated a ...

and

onions An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus ''Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onion ...

. Industry and services provide employment for 0.5% and 2.5% of the population, respectively.

Roads

The commune is crossed by the RN9 from

Toliara Toliara (also known as ''Toliary'', ; formerly ''Tuléar'') is a city in Madagascar. It is the capital of the Atsimo-Andrefana region, located 936 km southwest of national capital Antananarivo. The current spelling of the name was adopted ...

(Tulear) to Mandabe.

References and notes

Populated places in Menabe {{Menabe-geo-stub