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Vanilla is vital to the livelihoods of farmers in Madagascar, where the globally popular dessert ingredient is the country's No. 1 export. A fun, thought-provoking game designed by a team of scientists and played by Malagasy vanilla farmers reveals the challenges of payment programs that incentivize forest conservation in the region, according to a study led by the University of California, Davis.

The study, in the February issue of the journal Biological Conservation, found that even amid volatile markets and climate uncertainties, farmers highly value their vanilla crops, which are tied not only to their livelihoods but also their cultural identity. Yet they also recognize the importance of a balanced land-use approach.

"Vanilla farmers often cultivate far more than just vanilla," said lead author Marie Fleming, a Ph.D. student in Ecology in the UC Davis Department of Environmental Science and Policy.

"They grow within rainfed agroecosystems and deeply understand the value of maintaining a healthy mosaic landscape—one that balances food crops, cash crops, and forests. However, achieving this balance while meeting conservation goals can be challenging as farmers face the pressure to expand croplands."

FallowMe game

The authors worked with 204 farmers in Madagascar using an experimental tablet-based game called FallowMe. The game, developed by experts at the University of Antananarivo, Madagascar; Cornell University; and UC Davis, helped farmers simulate and explore their real-world dilemma: Stick with vanilla, diversify crops, conserve forest, or expand farmland to offset price drops amid a volatile vanilla market.

Such choices are crucial, as 70% of Malagasy farmers face food insecurity. Integrating fruit trees, food crops, and other cash crops within vanilla systems, presents a potential solution for farmers to enhance resilience, yet viable markets to support diverse and seasonal crops are not well established.

The study's results showed that while farmers highly valued vanilla monocrops, they were indifferent to diversifying the crop. In the game, a drop in the price of vanilla led farmers to diversify their crops and land uses. Paying farmers to conserve also increased forest vegetation, but it decreased crop diversity on the farm.

Payments also had unintended consequences. In the game, some young farmers expanded farmland onto public lands while benefiting from payments on their own plots. Payments also promoted less diverse landscapes composed primarily of vanilla crops and forests rather than integrating other crops that could promote food security.

Beyond payment programs

"While payment schemes can work, they alone cannot address the root causes that threaten both farmer livelihoods and the forests on which they depend," Fleming said. "We must consider farmers' visions for a balanced landscape and support the most vulnerable populations, such as youth and women, who are most reactive to shocks."

Felming said she hopes the work provides insights into how these factors can inform policy and the design of pro-conservation payment schemes.

"Addressing these challenges may need to involve enhancing the sustainability of each element of the existing mosaic system simultaneously," she said.

The study sheds light on the importance of market dynamics and the role of payment schemes to help encourage forest conservation among farmers that rely on cash crops like vanilla. It also shows how games can be a low-risk, low-cost tool to better predict and understand various policy interventions.