Siratany: Documenting the Traditional Earth Salt Industry of Southwest Madagascar

Siratany documents one of Madagascar’s most endangered traditional knowledge systems: the production of inland earth salt in the middle Onilahy Valley of southwest Madagascar. For generations, Mahafale, Ntandroy, Vezo, and Ntanôsy families have produced edible salt by transforming naturally saline soils through a sophisticated, non-industrial process. Producers identify suitable soils, extract and filter brine through locally selected plant materials, and boil the solution over wood fires until salt crystals form. Every stage depends on embodied expertise acquired through years of practice, with decisions guided by subtle sensory observations – including changes in color, smell, texture, taste, and the behavior of the boiling brine – rather than written instructions or formal training.

Today, this knowledge is rapidly disappearing. The number of experienced practitioners continues to decline because of ageing, limited transmission to younger generations, increasing pressure on fuelwood and salt-bearing landscapes, and competition from inexpensive industrial salt. As these practices disappear, the practical knowledge embedded in them cannot be recovered from artefacts or written descriptions alone.

Traditional salt-production workshop at Agnivorano, featuring a thatched vegetal shelter and a surrounding brushwood fence. Photo credit: Rasolondrainy, 2012.

Traditional open-air salt-production workshop at Androvakely, showing the evaporation pan surrounded by accumulated mounds of discarded saline soil (dongon-tsira). Photo credit: Rasolondrainy, 2012.

A salt producer discussing the adoption of an improved fuel-efficient stove as a response to increasing firewood scarcity at Agnivorano, southwest Madagascar. Photo credit: Rasolondrainy, 2012.

A female salt producer manually fanning the fire beneath the evaporation pan, a traditional technique used to regulate heat during artisanal salt production in southwest Madagascar. Photo credit: Rasolondrainy, 2012.

Two salt producers repairing the clay lining of an improved fuel-efficient stove during salt production, demonstrating the continuous maintenance required to sustain efficient fuel use. Photo credit: Rasolondrainy, 2012

A female salt producer regulating the boiling process by tending the evaporation pan during artisanal salt production. Photo credit: Rasolondrainy, 2012.

A female salt producer monitoring the evaporation pan during the final stage of artisanal salt production in southwest Madagascar. Photo credit: Rasolondrainy, 2012.

Female salt producers selling artisanal salt at the weekly market in Tongobory, southwest Madagascar. Photo credit: Rasolondrainy, 2012.

The project aims to create the first comprehensive digital record of the entire earth-salt production system while supporting community-led documentation and intergenerational knowledge transmission. Working collaboratively with knowledge holders and local youth, the research team will combine participant observation, oral-history interviews, and the recording of complete production cycles. Documentation will include high-resolution video, photography, audio recording, drone-based spatial mapping, 3D documentation of tools and production features, and detailed metadata describing techniques, terminology, materials, and local environmental knowledge.

All documentation will be prepared according to EMKP archiving standards and deposited in open-access repositories hosted by EMKP and the Institut des Civilisations/Musée d’Art et d’Archéologie of the University of Antananarivo. By preserving both the technical processes and the cultural knowledge that sustain them, Siratany will provide an enduring resource for communities, researchers, educators, and future heritage initiatives while safeguarding an irreplaceable element of Madagascar’s living material heritage.

PI: Tanambelo Vassili Reinaldo Rasolondrainy

Research Location: Androvakely, Agnivorano, Beloba-Bekidresy and Andranomay, Tameantsoa, Onilahy Valley, Atsimo-Andrefana Region, southwest Madagascar.

Host Institution: Institut des Civilisations/Musée d’Art et d’Archéologie, Université d’Antananarivo

Tanambelo Rasolondrainy

Hyacinthe Faustirin Damien Mahajanjy

Excellence Rakotobe

Arlin Charmant Bemanambatra

Top Banner Image: A female salt producer boiling brine in a traditional evaporation pan to crystalize salt in southwest Madagascar. Photo credit: Tanambelo Rasolondrainy, 2012.