Soaloka is a rural municipality 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 ...

Miandrivazo Miandrivazo is a town and commune ( mg, kaominina) in Madagascar. It is situated at the Mahajilo River and belongs to the district of Miandrivazo, which is a part of Menabe Region. The population of the commune was estimated to be approximate ...

, 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 4,000 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 in ...

. It lies on the

Manambolo River ''For the rural municipality, see Manambolo (disambiguation)'' The Manambolo River is a river in the highlands of western Madagascar of 370 km. It crosses the Tsingy de Bemaraha Strict Nature Reserve Tsingy de Bemaraha Strict Nature Reserv ...

. Only primary schooling is available. The majority 70% of the population of the commune are farmers, while an additional 20% 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

maize Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn ( North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. ...

and

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 ...

. Services provide employment for 5% of the population. Additionally fishing employs 5% of the population.

References and notes

Populated places in Menabe {{Menabe-geo-stub