MADAGASCAR RICE CROP ESTIMATED HIGHER IN 1987
Madagascar's vital rice crop is
estimated at 2,286,000 tonnes of paddy this year, up from
2,138,000 in 1986, the Ministry of Agriculture said.
    The Trade Ministry said rice imports quadrupled in local
currency value during the first nine months of last year as the
government established a buffer stock of the country's staple
food.
    Rice imports increased to 82.4 billion Malagasy francs
during the first nine months of last year from 20 billion in
the same period of 1985, the ministry said, without disclosing
the tonnages involved.
 REUTER
