Research on the impacts of Tozzi Green’s carbon plantation land grab in Madagascar: “The company has brought poverty to Ihorombe”

Photo: Tozzi GreenREDD-Monitor | 20 August 2026

Research on the impacts of Tozzi Green’s carbon plantation land grab in Madagascar: “The company has brought poverty to Ihorombe”

by Chris Lang

Strömberg spoke to Jenni Mölkänen at the University of Eastern Finland, who has carried out research about the impacts of Tozzi Green’s tree plantations on local communities on the Ihorombe plateau.

Mölkänen’s research, written with Tellu Loikkanen, Matthieu Lussac Pierre, Odine Fitiavana Tanjona ny Rindra, and Marketta Vuola, was published in Suomen Antropologi in April 2026.

The research was funded by the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The researchers note that the Ihorombe plateau is “known for its immense grasslands”. The name of the plateau comes from a perennial bunchgrass called horo, which is essential for zebus, the drought-resistant humped Malagasy cattle.

Three main communities live on the plateau: Andiolava, Satrokala, and Ambatolahy. The plateau is sparsely populated with about 35,000 people living there.

There is “little to no access to healthcare or basic public services” the researchers write. Most settlements do not have electricity or running water. People told the researchers about recent drought conditions, reduced harvests, and an increase in pests and crickets.

“We use zebu for everything”

The majority of the people living on the Ihorombe plateau are the Indigenous Bara people. The Bara are the largest zebu-herding group in Madagascar and historically were semi-nomadic. “We use zebu for everything, for our daily life for bad or good occasions,” one herder told the researchers.

Zebus are a family bank — if the family needs money for household or unexpected living expenses, they can sell their cattle.

Some people welcomed the company, for example a mayor in one of the community where the company had built a school, a hospital, roads, and two dams, and established access to water and electricity.

But the researchers report that “many of our interviewees opposed the company’s efforts”. One person told them that,

The company project is not clear. The company just takes the land without proper consultation. The company’s activities occupy extensive areas of land that restrict zebu herders’ livelihoods and the benefits, like schools and education or infrastructural developments are not shared with the villages and communities where the company works.

No process of free, prior and informed consent

Communities do not know how long Tozzi Green’s tree planting project will last. Some said 25 years, others mentioned 30, 40, or 50 years. (Verra’s registry states that the project started in November 2022 and will run till November 2062.)

Several zebu herders told the researchers that the consultation process was unclear. One person said,

“The elders and family and clan leaders, lonaka, were invited to the consultation meeting as well as the commune mayors. The company promised to build hospitals and schools and create jobs, but they didn’t do those things ( . . . ) Moreover, the agreement was not written in a language that the elders knew.”

Meetings took place in French which the elders and family leaders did not understand. No meeting records or minutes were taken. “Some also pointed out that the state in co-operation with the company used the military to intimidate local people into accepting the implementation of the projects,” the researchers write.

“The company planted trees, and it is not safe now to walk”

Some elders signed an agreement to give their land to Tozzi Green in return for promised benefits such as a school and a hospital.

“The company promised to build a classroom and a dam, and asked us for our land,” one elder who had signed an agreement told the researchers. The company “should have done what they promised”, they added.

Another said that “the company promised to offer work to the young people; however, only rich people got jobs ( . . . ) after maize, the company planted trees, and it is not safe now to walk.”

Zebu herders consider the plantations to be unsafe. Cattle thieves “can steal a zebu and easily hide in the forest,” herders told the researchers.

The main issue for cattle herders and farmers is that Tozzi Green has taken their land, restricting the area available for zebu grazing. One person told the researchers that,

“The company wants to restrict our territory, and they did not bring any development ( . . . ) The company has brought poverty to Ihorombe. They brought a grass¹ that is too hard for zebus to eat, they do not like it.”

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1 The researchers explain that, “According to our interlocutors, this grass grew in places where the company had farmed maize.”