Problems Faced and Strategies Adopted by Farmers for Adapting to Climate Change in Xai-Xai District, Gaza Province, Mozambique

This research aims to: Identify climate-related risks and challenges faced by Xai-Xai households (agriculture, livestock and forest resources); Describe their current coping strategies and needs; Recommend interventions that meet their needs and improve their livelihood resilience and adaptive capacity to climate variability

Information and Technology Transfer Needs of Agricultural Producers to cope with the Climate Changes

Research objectives Identify the information, knowledge and agricultural technology gaps (agriculture, livestock and natural resources) in the district of Chicualacuala communities that hamper a better response to the effects of climate change. Describe the potential barriers that may prevent the participation of beneficiaries in interventions of technologies dissemination, access and utilization of knowledge to be disseminated. Identify intervention strategies to address the information, knowledge and agricultural technologies gaps identified

A Theory of Common Dealing with the Internet as an Innovative Distribution Channel

After the emergence of the Internet, an interesting question arises that what is its impact on the firms’ channel and pricing strategies. This paper applies game theory to study the strategic interactions between rational manufacturers, retailers, and consumers, and it generates the following results: 1. The presence of the Internet allows imperfectly competitive manufacturers to better coordinate their pricing, targeting, and channel strategies, thereby minimizing the agency costs involved in common dealing at the traditional outlets, which in turn enhances the manufacturers’ profits. 2. Exclusive dealing may and may not become more prevalent in the presence of the Internet. It all depends on the ratio of the population of switchers to the entire population of consumers. 3. The presence of the Internet allows a monopolistic manufacturer to screen consumers by serving different people at different outlets. Screening is less effective, however, in the case of imperfect competition. 4. A dynamic adjustment process is obtained which describes how a manufacturer should optimally change his channel and pricing strategies when the population of the Internet purchasers grows over time

Impact of harvest residues, fertilisers and N-fixing plants on growth and nutritional status of young Eucalyptus globulus plantations under Mediterranean conditions

Growth and nutritional status of young plants of Eucalyptus were assessed in a field trial, under different scenarios of harvest residue management and nutrient availability. Treatments were as follows: incorporation of harvest residues into the soil by harrowing (I); I with N fertiliser application (IF); I with leguminous, Lupinus luteus L., seeding (IL); removal of harvest residues (R); R with N fertiliser application (RF); R with leguminous seeding (RL); distribution of harvest residues on the soil surface (S); S with N fertiliser application (SF). Treatments were replicated four times in four blocks with a fully randomised design. Tree growth (height and diameter at breast height) was measured and understory biomass destructively recorded. Tree nutritional status was assessed by foliar analysis (N, Ca, Mg, P, K and leaf area). Significant differences in growth between I, R and S treatments were only detected at early stage. Intercropping with Lupinus decreased tree growth during the early phase, but after 5 years growth was similar to that measured in the I and R treatments. Application of fertiliser enhanced tree growth especially when harvest residues were retained on the soil surface. Combining incorporation of harvest residues with fertiliser application (IF) was the best option to increase tree growth, which was significantly greater than in the R and S. Initially, leaf N was positively affected by the leguminous (RL and IL), but, after the first fertiliser application (1 year after planting), greater N was observed in the IF, RF and SF, the difference decreasing gradually over the following year

Influence of soil and organic residue management on biomass and biodiversity of understory vegetation in a Eucalyptus globulus Labill. plantation

The objective of this study was to assess the effect of different options of soil preparation and management of harvesting debris on biodiversity and biomass of understory vegetation in plantations of Eucalyptus globulus of Central Portugal. The experiment consisted of six treatments in a replanted area and four treatments in a coppice area with five replicates, following a randomised block design. Surveys of vegetation were performed for 6 years. The proportion of soil cover by plant specieswas estimated and the Shannon–Wiener diversity and equitability indexes determined for each treatment and year. After the 2nd year, the understory vegetation was randomly sampled for above-ground biomass determination.Within the planted area, the removal of slash without soil preparation induced the highest number of species during the experimental period. A similar trend was observed in the coppice area, but less regularly. Significant differences in the proportion of soil cover only occurred within the planted area in the first year, when slash removal without soil preparation induced the highest understory cover. Species diversity was not clearly affected by treatments: significant differences only occurred occasionally and were apparently related to differences in the number of species. Therefore, differences in the equitability index between treatments never were significant. Removal of slash without soil disturbance and broadcast of slash over the soil usually shared the highest biodiversity. Differences between treatments in the amount of understory biomass were never statistically significant during the experimental period. Tendency for a negative influence of soil mobilisation on the amount of understory biomass was observed within the planted area, as well as a similar effect of the treatments consisting of broadcast of slash over the soil surface in the coppice area. In parallel to tree development and canopy closure biomass of that vegetation along the study period was reduced, especially in the planted area

Necessidades de Informação e Transferência de Tecnologias dos Produtores Agrários para Adaptação às Mudanças Climáticas no Distrito de Chicualacuala, Província de Gaza

Mozambique is considered one of the countries that will suffer significant negative effects of climate change, in particular droughts, floods and cyclones. The district of Chicualacuala, due to its geographical location, in an area with semi-arid characteristics, will suffer the consequences of cyclical droughts and floods, high temperatures and desertification. The population will be negatively affected by these phenomena, as their survival is dependent on farming and the exploitation of natural resources. On top of these factors, there is weak development of infrastructure and social services in the district. The main effects of climate change include: the reduction of agricultural productivity, loss of crops, decrease in the availability of pasture, reduction in the availability of water, higher incidences of disease and death of livestock, and land degradation. This could, therefore, lead to the reduction of household income, increased food and nutritional insecurity, and the increase in the number of cases of diseases such as malaria, cholera and diarrhea in this population

Necessidades de Informação e Transferência de Tecnologias dos Produtores Agrários para Adaptação às Mudanças Climáticas no Distrito de Xai -Xai, Província de Gaza

This research was conducted to analyse the problems, knowledge and needs of farming households’ – who are the beneficiaries of the project – in order to propose interventions that meet their needs. The research data collection was based on three strategies, namely: (i) household questionnaires; (ii) focus group discussions with groups of farmers’ association members (iii) semi-structured interviews targeted at community leaders, farmers’ association leaders and extension agents working in the four villages studied. In total 166 households were administered a questionnaire, four focus groups consisting of 04 to 12 people were organized; and 10 key informants were individually interviewed

Chemical tracers of Lusitanian amphorae kilns from the Tagus estuary (Portugal)

In this paper, the characterization of Roman amphorae from the Porto dos Cacos (PC) and Quinta do Rouxinol (QR) workshops, in the Tagus estuary, dating to a period between the 1st and 5th century AD was carried out on the basis of instrumental neutron activation analysis data on 260 amphorae fragments, together with mineralogical compositional studies obtained by X-ray diffraction. Special attention was devoted to the study of the Dressel 14, Almagro 50/51c and Lusitana 3/9 amphorae in an attempt to establish whether or not it is possible to establish any correlation between the composition and typology, and between and within the production centres studied. A description of the geochemical patterns associated with each production centre was first carried out separately, followed by a discussion comparing the two centres situated in the same sedimentary basin, identifying diagnostic chemical tracers for each one; also, in certain cases, a relative correlation with the typology was achieved. Both the definition of reference groups and the attribution of amphorae to their workshop origin relied on the use of chemometric techniques for data structure analysis, coupled with geochemical data analysis, especially regarding trace element data and its geochemical behaviour and distribution according to the geological environment of the region. This approach complements and reinforces the conclusions drawn from typological and archaeological analyses. Considering the two kiln sites studied, we may talk of the production of two types of Roman amphorae in the lower Tagus, with the establishment of compositional groups defined according to their corresponding chemical signatures. The products of the PC workshop are characterized by high concentrations of Co, As and U, and low concentrations of Fe, Zn, Sb, Rb, K; QR workshop amphorae show instead higher concentrations of Fe, Sb, and also of Rb and Zn, and lower amounts of U. These results make it possible to understand the crucial importance of the lower course of the Tagus River within the framework of the analysis of the economy of the estuary at the time. This, in turn, may lead to a better understanding of production and trade within Lusitania and also with other Roman provinces

Balanço de carbono no eucaliptal - Comparação entre o fluxo turbulento de CO2 e a estimativa do modelo CO2FIX V3.1

Congresso Florestal Nacional: a floresta e as gentes - Actas das comunicaçõesEste estudo teve como principal objectivo investigar a possibilidade de utilizar o modelo CO2FIX V3 na quantificação dos stocks e fluxos de carbono numa plantação de Eucalyptus globulus através da comparação das estimativas da PLE obtidas pela parametrização do modelo e pelas medições de fluxo turbulento de CO2 obtido pelo método das flutuações instantâneas, da respiração do solo e dados de inventário

Setting the scene and generating evidence for malaria elimination in Southern Mozambique

Mozambique has historically been one of the countries with the highest malaria burden in the world. Starting in the 1960s, malaria control efforts were intensified in the southern region of the country, especially in Maputo city and Maputo province, to aid regional initiatives aimed to eliminate malaria in South Africa and eSwatini. Despite significant reductions in malaria prevalence, elimination was never achieved. Following the World Health Organization's renewed vision of a malaria-free-world, and considering the achievements from the past, the Mozambican National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP) embarked on the development and implementation of a strategic plan to accelerate from malaria control to malaria elimination in southern Mozambique. An initial partnership, supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the La Caixa Foundation, led to the creation of the Mozambican Alliance Towards the Elimination of Malaria (MALTEM) and the Malaria Technical and Advisory Committee (MTAC) to promote national ownership and partner coordination to work towards the goal of malaria elimination in local and cross-border initiatives. Surveillance systems to generate epidemiological and entomological intelligence to inform the malaria control strategies were strengthened, and an impact and feasibility assessment of various interventions aimed to interrupt malaria transmission were conducted in Magude district (Maputo Province) through the "Magude Project". The primary aim of this project was to generate evidence to inform malaria elimination strategies for southern Mozambique. The goal of malaria elimination in areas of low transmission intensity is now included in the national malaria strategic plan for 2017-22 and the NMCP and its partners have started to work towards this goal while evidence continues to be generated to move the national elimination agenda forward