Father Henri de Laulanié was a Jesuit who spent more than three decades of his life working with small-scale farmers in Madagascar to improve their crop productivity. He first arrived in Madagascar from his native France in 1961 as an agricultural missionary with no experience in rice cultivation.

Recognizing the Malagasy dependency on rice—they eat more rice per capita than any other people in the world—Father de Laulanié focused his energies on rice production. His goal: to discover new ways of cultivating rice that would not require additional costly tools or other monetary investment for subsistence farmers.

Read about how Catholic Relief Services is using his techniques  today to help feed Malagasy families.