Alaotra-Mangoro is a

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

in eastern

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

. It borders

Sofia Region Sofia is a Regions of Madagascar, region in northern Madagascar. It is named for the Sofia River. It is the second largest Malagasy region (behind Atsimo-Andrefana) with an area of 50,100 km² (19,300 sq mi), and had a population of 1,500,227 ...

in north, Analanjirofo in northeast, Atsinanana in east, Vakinankaratra in southwest, Analamanga in west and Betsiboka in northwest. The capital of the region is Ambatondrazaka, and the population was 1,255,514 in 2018. The area of the region is .

Administrative divisions

Alaotra-Mangoro Region is divided into five districts, which are sub-divided into 82 communes. * Ambatondrazaka District - 20 communes * Amparafaravola District - 21 communes * Andilamena District - 8 communes * Anosibe An'ala District - 11 communes * Moramanga District - 22 communes

Population

The region is mainly populated by the Sihanaka in the north, and the Bezanozano in the south. Other minorities are present, notably the

Merina The Merina people (also known as the Imerina, Antimerina, Borizany or Ambaniandro) formerly called Amboalambo are the largest ethnic group in Madagascar.

Economy

Agriculture

With 120.000 ha of planted surface, the region constitutes the main

rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

basin of Madagascar. Other crops cover

manioc ''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, from Brazil, Paraguay and parts of the Andes. Although ...

(175.000 tonnes),

potatoes The potato () is a starchy tuberous vegetable native to the Americas that is consumed as a staple food in many parts of the world. Potatoes are underground stem tubers of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'', a perennial in the nightshade famil ...

(49.000 tonnes),

corn Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout Poaceae, grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples of Mexico, indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago ...

(50.000 tonnes) and sugar cane (50.000 tonnes). Livestock (

Zebu The zebu (; ''Bos indicus''), also known as indicine cattle and humped cattle, is a species or subspecies of Bos taurus, domestic cattle originating in South Asia. Zebu, like many Sanga cattle breeds, differs from taurine cattle by a fatty hump ...

) reaches 265.000 heads and fishing 2000-2500 tons per year.Capfida rapports regionaux
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Mining

There is an important

nickel Nickel is a chemical element; it has symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive, but large pieces are slo ...

mine near Moramanga/ Ampitambe: the Ambatovy mine. Other mining activities are found in Andilamena, Ambatondrazaka and Didy where

sapphire Sapphire is a precious gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum, consisting of aluminium oxide () with trace amounts of elements such as iron, titanium, cobalt, lead, chromium, vanadium, magnesium, boron, and silicon. The name ''sapphire ...

and

ruby Ruby is a pinkish-red-to-blood-red-colored gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum ( aluminium oxide). Ruby is one of the most popular traditional jewelry gems and is very durable. Other varieties of gem-quality corundum are called sapph ...

are mined.

Transport

National Roads

* Route nationale 2 (

Antananarivo Antananarivo (Malagasy language, Malagasy: ; French language, French: ''Tananarive'', ), also known by its colonial shorthand form Tana (), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Madagascar. The administrative area of the city, known ...

- Moramanga -

Toamasina Toamasina (), meaning "like salt" or "salty", unofficially and in French language, French Tamatave or in the past as Port aux prunes, is the capital of the Atsinanana region on the east coast of Madagascar on the Indian Ocean. The city is the chief ...

). * Route nationale 44 ( Moramanga - Ambatondrazaka - Imerimandroso - Amboavory).

Railways

*TCE (Tananarive-Côte Est) railway - (

- Moramanga -

). *MLA (Moramanga- Lac Alaotra) railway ( Moramanga - Ambatondrazaka).

Airports

* Ambatondrazaka Airport * Amparafaravola Airport * Ambohijanahary Airport

Protected areas

Rivers

* Ivondro River * Marimbona * Sahamaitso * Sahatandra * Sandrangato * Vohitra River

References

Regions of Madagascar {{AlaotraMangoro-geo-stub