Tambohorano is a town and commune on the west coast of Madagascar

Madagascar

The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...

 approximately 290 kilometres north-west of the capital Antananarivo

Antananarivo

Antananarivo , formerly Tananarive , is the capital and largest city in Madagascar. It is also known by its French colonial shorthand form Tana....

.. It belongs to the district

Districts of Madagascar

Districts are second-level administrative divisions of Madagascar below the regions. Districts are in their turn divided into communes; while some of the districts on urban areas such as the district of Toliara consists of only one commune, most of the districts are divided typically into...

 of Maintirano

Maintirano District

Maintirano is a district in western Madagascar. It's a part of Melaky Region and borders the districts of Besalampy in north, Morafenobe in east and Antsalova in south. The area is and the population was estimated to be 52,700 in 2001....

, which is a part of Melaky Region. The population of the commune was estimated to be approximately 8,000 in 2001 commune census

Census

A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...

.

Tambohorano is served by a local airport and maritime harbour. Primary and junior level secondary education are available in town. The majority 65% 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

Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...

, while other important products are wheat

Wheat

Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...

, coconut

Coconut

The coconut palm, Cocos nucifera, is a member of the family Arecaceae . It is the only accepted species in the genus Cocos. The term coconut can refer to the entire coconut palm, the seed, or the fruit, which is not a botanical nut. The spelling cocoanut is an old-fashioned form of the word...

s, cassava

Cassava

Cassava , also called yuca or manioc, a woody shrub of the Euphorbiaceae native to South America, is extensively cultivated as an annual crop in tropical and subtropical regions for its edible starchy tuberous root, a major source of carbohydrates...

 and barley

Barley

Barley is a major cereal grain, a member of the grass family. It serves as a major animal fodder, as a base malt for beer and certain distilled beverages, and as a component of various health foods...

. Services provide employment for 5% of the population. Additionally fishing employs 10% of the population.