Researchers forecast El Nino in 2020 - Mozambique Agrimoz-agri.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/oct-dec2019en.pdf · News Brief : .....5 Cover Story Researchers forecast El Nino in

1 www.moz-agri.com MozAgric | October - December 2019

VOLUME 2: ISSUE 4 MZN 125/US$5.30 OCTOBER / NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2019

Austria offer reconstruction support 7

Macfrut’s 37th preparations on track 10

Tonisity complementary feeds, reduce pre-weaning mortality 12

Researchers forecast El Nino in 2020

2 MozAgric | October - December 2019 www.moz-agri.com

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Contents Editorial Comment

How is our disaster management preparedness? : .....................................4

News Brief : .....................................5 Cover Story

Researchers forecast El Nino in 2020 : .....................................6

General News

Austria offer reconstruction support : .....................................7Beira’s tuna exports set to resume : .....................................8 Mosquito nets destructive to coastal ecosystem : .....................................9

International News

Macfrut’s 37th preparations on track : .....................................10

Companies & Markets

Tonisity complementary feeds, reduce pre-weaning mortality : .....................................11

Insight & Analysis

SADC should to take action against child labour on tobacco farms : .....................................12

PublisherMTI Moçambique Limitada

EditorAndrew [email protected]

Editorial Contributors:More Love Mafu

Dakito BiasMario Deus

Casimo Muhimua

ADVERTISING [email protected]

Domingos LangaBrito MambaSergio Saidi

Gersholm Twazi

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Editorial Comment

How is our disaster management preparedness?

riumph is reigning in researchers’ territory following news predicting an El Nino is set to hit the nation’s shores in 2020.

For long, such catastrophe has caught villagers and authorities off guard, leaving behind a trail of misery.

Remember El Nino brings severe drought and is associated with food insecurity, flooding, rains, and temperature rises due to El Niño are causing a wide range of health problems, including disease out-breaks, malnutrition, heat stress and re-

TAndrew Maramwidze (Editor)

spiratory diseases.

However, thanks to the futuristic model of research that points to an 80 percent chance of El Nino occurring late next year.

Scientists have been reportedly checking the model’s accuracy for some time and indications are that the model correct-ly forecast the onset of the El Nino that started in 2014 and ended in 2016 and the most recent event in 2018, as well as absences in other years.

Though not yet clear what sort of impact the predicted 2020 El Nino could have, the periodic weather pattern is slowly be-coming the norm, rather than the excep-tion, evoking painful memories of shat-tered lives and livelihoods.

Striking every two to seven years, and lasting for up to 12 months, the phenom-enon alters rainfall patterns worldwide, leaving some areas soaked.

Assessments on areas prone to severe impact of an El Nino should began in ear-nest and possible solutions be crafted, al-ready few weeks are left before we close the year.

This call is not only to authorities but to

the various stakeholders, our prepared-ness should not be limited to going around with begging bowls after the di-saster has struck. Rather swift rollout of assistance should be witnessed.

The on the rise capabilities of research-ers is something worth celebrating and we can only celebrate such by being pre-pared for any disaster.

As we enter into the New Year, let all stakeholders ponder over the challenge of a looming El Nino.

Remember to share your comments, views, opinions and letters on [email protected]

Enjoy the read!


Agriculture dampens GDP

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) has indicated that the country’s GDP decelerated to 2¼ percent (year-on-year) in the second quarter of 2019, affected by a weak performance in agriculture.

The development is attributed to tropical Cyclones Idai and Kenneth “The outlook for 2020 is for a strong rebound in eco-nomic activity and low inflation. Real GDP growth is project-ed to reach 5½ percent in 2020, from 2.1 percent projected for 2019, supported by post-cyclones reconstruction efforts, a recovery in agriculture, and economic stimulus from further gradual easing of monetary conditions and clearing of domes-tic payments arrears to suppliers.

“Construction and other activities should also be boosted by investments in the liquefied natural gas (LNG) megaprojects. Inflation is projected to remain low, increasing slightly to 5 per-cent at end-2020, from 3 percent at end-2019,” said IMF lead consultant Ricardo Velloso following recent visit to Maputo.

The mission welcomed the authorities’ comprehensive diag-nostic of governance and corruption challenges in Mozam-bique, which was published in August and was supported by IMF technical assistance. It encouraged the Government to implement the reforms under the roadmap outlined in the report.

Children to bear the brunt

Young people are expected to suffer the most, as the world predicts the food crisis in the coming six months in the SADC region.

“World Vision is seeing a lot of young children dropping out of school in the communities it work in, particularly in rural areas where children are needed to fetch water, work for money or help with the cattle,” said World Vision Australia Chief Execu-tive Officer, Claire Rogers.

According to Food Agency reports working in the region, a re-cord of 45 million people across 16 countries in Southern Afri-ca will suffer food shortages in the next six months and it is the young that face the greatest risk.

World Vision is responding to the hunger emergency across seven countries – Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Eswatini, Leso-tho, Malawi and Mozambique.

Nampula cashew to exceed targets

Nampula province anticipates exceeding its projected harvest during the 2019/2020 harvest.

“The expected production exceeds the previous campaign by 3,000 tonnes,” said Júlio Langa, a provincial delegate of the National Cashew Institute, adding that the province plans to produce 73,000 tonnes of cashew nuts this season.

Last year, the province accounted for almost half of the coun-try’s production of the cash crop, harvesting 142,000 tonnes.”Cashew cultivation was introduced in Mozambique in the 20th century in the then districts of Nampula, Gaza and Inhambane,

as they were found to offer appropriate conditions for its culti-vation, so there is still a high density of cashew trees in these regions.

During the 2018/2019 cashew nut marketing year, which began on October 2018 and ended on February 2019, Nampula prov-ince produced 70,069 tonnes which were sold at an average price of 43.15 meticais (about 61 US cents) per kilogramme.

Nampula province plans to maintain its status as the largest national producer of cashew nuts during the 2019/2020 agri-cultural season which is already underway.

PM lure agric sector investors

Prime Minister Carlos Agostinho do Rosario has invited po-tential investors in South African potential to familiarise them-selves with the local portfolio of development projects, and to decide to invest.

He cited projects in agriculture, agro-industry such as the pro-duction of organic sugar, the textile industry and port facilities.

The Prime Minister said government wants to diversify the economy so as to ensure that investment in natural gas does not damage the development of other vital sectors such as agriculture.

Reduced maize outputs slows trade with SADC

Trade between Mozambique and some of its neighbouring countries in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region is lower as a result of reduced outputs in the staple maize in the nation.

According to the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), World Food Programme (WFP) Crop and Food Security As-sessment Mission (CFSAM) special report to Mozambique, the estimated 2019 cereal production is around 2.8 million metric tonnes, which is about 16 percent lower than last year. The decline in production is mostly from a sharp decrease in maize production.

Meanwhile the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) stated that supplies from the southern and central re-gions were below average resulting in a typically high price increases.

Sofala, Inhambane provinces gets help

Over 1.6 million people in the central and southern parts of the country are presently in need of assistance due to the devas-tating effects of the ongoing drought and increasingly severe weather events.

This has prompted CARE to distribute drought-resistant seeds and tools, as well as deliver basic training in improved agricul-tural practices to combat the effects of the climate crisis, in several districts of Sofala and Inhambane provinces.

CARE is a leading humanitarian organization fighting global poverty and started working with local communities in 1984 delivering emergency and large-scale humanitarian assistance.

News Briefs


Cover Story

Researchers forecast El Nino in 2020 eather forecast by researchers from a Germany University - Justus Liebig University Gies-sen has predicting that an El Nino is set to hit again in 2020.

Using futuristic model, the Institute’s latest forecast points to an 80 per cent chance of El Nino occurring late in 2020.

“Conventional methods are unable to make a reliable ‘El Nino’ forecast more than six months in advance. With our method, we have roughly doubled the previous warning time.

“The method uses an algorithm that draws on analysis of links between changing air temperatures at a network of grid points across the Pacific region,” said physicist Armin Bunde from Justus Liebig Universi-ty Giessen.

W El Nino is characterised by an abnormal warming of the surface water of the equa-torial Pacific Ocean. This has impacts on weather around the globe, and in south-ern Africa, it is associated with drought.

Striking every two to seven years, and lasting for up to 12 months, the phenom-enon alters rainfall patterns worldwide, leaving some areas soaked.

However, the team of researchers, whose new method has been tested since 2013 are reportedly unsure of the impact of the predicted El Nino on seasonal climates – meaning they are still uncertain whether it will be a weak, moderate, or strong.

Reports claim that the team is now adapt-ing the algorithm to be able to predict the timing and strength of El Nino.

First published in the journal Proceedings

of the National Academy of Sciences six years ago, the new prediction model is expected to help government authorities prepare better for the impacts of El Nino.

Scientists have been reportedly check-ing its accuracy since then. They say the model correctly forecast the onset of the El Nino that started in 2014 and ended in 2016 and the most recent event in 2018, as well as absences in other years.

“The next expected El Nino, due to peak in late 2020, could push global average annual temperature rise to a new record in 2021,” said the researchers.

Though not yet clear what sort of impact the predicted 2020 El Nino could have on Mozambique, the periodic weather pat-tern is slowly becoming the norm, rather than the exception, evoking painful mem-ories of shattered lives and livelihoods.


General News

Austria offer reconstruction support ustria has extended sustainable support for reconstruction to alleviate the local humanitarian crisis.

“Mozambique has been a priority coun-try for Austrian development cooperation for many years. Following the emergen-cy humanitarian aid of EUR 1.25 million in spring 2019, the focus of our efforts is now on sustainable support for recon-struction,” said Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg.

The support comes after hundreds of thousands of people lost their livelihoods due to tropical cyclones that hit the nation twice in quick succession in the first half of 2019.

The storms caused considerable damage to agriculture and now citizens are threat-ened by acute food shortages.

“Humanitarian aid must continue to be provided, especially in regions that have long been cut off from the outside world.

Through our support, we are also making an urgently needed contribution to avert-ing an impending catastrophic famine,”

A said Schallenberg.

The approved payment of a further EUR 500,000 from the Foreign Disaster Fund recently will be made available to the United Nations Office for the Coordina-tion of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

According to OCHA, some 2.2 million people have been affected by natural di-sasters.

OCHA also places more than 1.8 million people as still dependent on urgent hu-manitarian aid. The affected regions are currently in a transition between repairing the damage and beginning reconstruc-tion.

OCHA is responsible for coordinating hu-manitarian aid to ensure that it is handled as effectively as possible.


General News

Beira’s tuna exports set to resume xports of tuna caught in the Sofala bank is set to begin following the opening of the Chi-nese-renovated Beira fishing port.

Financed to the tune of $120 million through a loan from China, dock one of the Beira fishing port was inaugurated re-cently.

Carlos Calenga, The director of the Port of Beira management company said op-erations will now resume.

E “The fishing dock has started operating again, exports of tuna caught in the Sofa-la bank, which are currently sent by road to South Africa and also by sea to the United States of America, Japan, Spain and Portugal, can begin again,” he said.

Beira’s fishing port was destroyed by cy-clone Eline, which struck the provincial capital of Sofala in February 2000, and its reconstruction began in 2016, with the contract awarded to the China Harbor En-gineering Company (CHEC).

The dock is 377 metres long, compared with 188 metres previously, which allows 16 industrial vessels to be moored simul-taneously, against eight before.

In addition, six cold stores, an ice factory with a capacity of 60 tonnes per day, a fish processing room with a capacity of 50 tonnes per day and a handling capacity of 700,000 tonnes per year, among other improvements have turned the infrastruc-ture into the largest and most modern fa-cility of its kind in the country.


General News

Mosquito nets destructive to coastal ecosystem osquito nets primarily designed to help stop the transmission of malaria are finding a new fishing use.

However, researchers claim this could have destructive consequences for both food security and coastal ecosystems - studies have warned that fishing with mosquito nets is likely to harm the fisher-ies industry, as it affects the coastal eco-system.

According to an investigation done at 10 sites in northern part of the country by Benjamin Jones of Stockholm University in Sweden and Richard Unsworth Swan-sea University in the United Kingdom, it concluded that nets are extremely effec-tive.

M The research indicates that a single sweep can bring in almost half of the daily average catch by weight of a traditional net and scoop up everything in their path, adding that dozens of species were being caught – and many were juveniles.

“Some were no bigger than my fingernail. That could be a problem, both for the people and the local seagrass ecosys-tem,” says Jones.

“Removing so many juveniles’ means there could be fewer fish to catch in the future. And the seagrass meadows, which bind the sediment along the coast togeth-er and are an important carbon sink, rely on the fish to stay healthy. Remove too many fish and they could collapse,” he says.

The research also indicates the social sta-tus the people who use the tents occupy, which is a call for the government to help the communities while also saving the in-dustry.

“For many, the nets are their only choice to provide food for their families. “The people using the nets are the poorest in society,” says Jones.

“They are using nets that could be sav-ing them from malaria because they have nothing else,” he added.

Using mosquito nets to fish is illegal in many countries, but the threat of arrests and fines has done little to curb the prac-tice.


International News

Macfrut’s 37th preparations on track he 37th edition of the international fruit and vegetable trade fair - Macfrut 2020 looks toward the future: new markets and new con-sumer trends.

Just eight months before the Trade Fair expected to feature many novelties, it’s all system go for the organisers.

The latest addition to the fair is the Spices & Herbs Global Expo, a new pavilion en-tirely dedicated to the world of spices and officinal and aromatic herbs.

The event, first of its kind in Europe, is aimed at this very dynamic sector as a global meeting point for producers, tech-nicians, researchers, traders and proces-sors.

Ismea - Institute of Services for the Ag-ricultural and Food Market will introduce this important theme at the trade fair by presenting a Global observatory on spic-es and officinal herbs, gathering numer-ous data which, to date, have not been analysed in such a way as to provide a comprehensive overview of the sector.

This will be done for the first time in Eu-

T rope, with Macfrut leading the way. Look-ing beyond national borders has always been one of Macfrut’s key points. This edition’s international partner is Asia.

Specifically, ‘Fruits and spices along Marco Polo’s route’, with a spotlight on emerging Asian markets, where fruit, veg-etables and spices are becoming increas-ingly in demand.

Sardinia, instead, will be the partner re-gion of Macfrut 2020. The fruit and vege-table sector plays a crucial role in Sardin-ia, increasing the total value of agricultural production.

Potatoes and vegetables account for 86 percent of production, with the main crops being tomatoes and artichokes, 23 percent of national production.

Tomatoes are grown both in greenhous-es for fresh consumption and in the open air before being processed into pulp and peeled tomatoes.

The competitive advantages of this indus-try also depend on the fact that fruit and vegetable products are grown at different times of the year (earlier or later) com-

pared to other Italian regions and that quality products are highly valued.

As for side events, the international event dedicated to Biostimulants will take place again, as well as a focus session on exot-ic fruits with the third edition of the Tropi-cal Fruit Congress, which this time will be dedicated to avocados, and the three dy-namic areas: Acqua Campus, a test field for innovations in irrigation, Macfrut Field Solution, a test field with cutting-edge technology for the horticultural and fruit sectors, and the Greenhouse Technology Village, the greenhouse horticulture inno-vation village.

Other novelties include the International Tomato Contest, the Tomato world cham-pionship with the participation of industry players, producers and seed companies, and the International Strawberry Sympo-sium, which will come to a close at the trade fair on 6 May.

As every year, this autumn Macfrut will be extensively promoted around the world with a tour consisting of 28 international missions across various continents: not only Asia but also South America, Europe and Africa.


Companies & Markets

Tonisity complementary feeds, reduce pre-weaning mortality onisity International are delighted to announce the launch of the Tonisity Total Pro-gramme. Where most products feed the pig, this programme is designed to feed the gut of piglets at different stages of their production lifecycle; in the farrowing house, at weaning, and for weaned or fat-tening pigs.

The Tonisity Total Programme helps to improve gut health performance of pigs from day two, right through to finish.

The programme consists of two key prod-ucts: Tonisity Px™ and Tonisity PxW™ WeanBetter. Tonisity Px is the first iso-tonic complementary feed for pigs, which can be used as early as day two of life, that feeds protein, key amino acids and nutrients to new-born piglets, resulting in greater survivability and weight gain.

Production trials carried out globally, have

T shown a reduction of pre-weaning mortal-ity by 20 to 30 percent on average, which means an extra one-to-two piglets can be weaned per sow per year. Furthermore, Tonisity Px reduces stress and facilitates a faster transition to solid feed.

Tonisity PxW WeanBetter is a new, con-centrated solution that is designed to be administered to weaning-age pigs through ordinary water lines. It is a fol-low-on solution for weaned pigs that were originally on Tonisity Px in the farrowing stage. The palatable formula attracts pigs to the water supply to consume more wa-ter post-weaning.

The flavour profile evokes a memory re-sponse in pigs who were previously on the starter formula of Tonisity Px. By im-proving water intake, you can improve feed intake. It helps to drive growth with positive effects up to market.

“The Tonisity Total Programme is showing excellent results through the production lifecycle of these pigs.

“We have run trials in a number of coun-tries across the globe, showing reduced pre-weaning mortality, increased weight gain pre and post weaning, more heavi-er pigs per litter and, most importantly, clear improvements in return on invest-ment,” said Tonisity’s Managing Director, Mathieu Cortyl.

Tonisity have pioneered disruptive tech-nologies that use an isotonic solution, to deliver key ingredients that nourish the cells along the small intestine.

Lifelong benefits for pigs can be improved by addressing intestinal health from the first week of life. It has also been shown that the Tonisity Total Programme gives the biggest returns when used across all pigs, not just the small ones.


SADC should to take action against child labour on tobacco farms By SIFELANI TSIKO he anti-tobacco lobby is getting aggressive and vicious and SADC countries need to take ur-gent steps to fight child labour and other rights abuses on tobacco farms dotted around the major tobacco-growing parts of the region.

As a region, we need to get together to save the tobacco industry which is a ma-jor source of revenue for most countries that include Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozam-bique, Tanzania and Zambia.

A report titled: ‘Bitter Harvest’, by the Hu-man Rights Watch (HRW) has escalated the anti-tobacco lobby by claiming that children as young as 11 were working on tobacco farms in Zimbabwe, often in haz-ardous conditions, to earn school fees or supplement the family income.

It further said that workers were exposed to nicotine and toxic pesticides and suf-fer symptoms consistent with poisoning such as nausea and vomiting.

The claims, whether real or imagined need to be investigated so that SADC governments can act on them to minimise the damage that comes with such claims against the tobacco industry.

A few months ago, a coalition of five Southern African countries met in Malawi to discuss ways to address the growing global anti-tobacco lobby which is impos-ing tighter regulations and heavy taxes on the golden leaf, a major source of export earnings for the countries.

The countries calling themselves — T5 — a grouping of tobacco industry stakehold-ers from Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe gathered in the Malawian capital, Lilongwe, to share ex-periences and explore strategies to save this strategic industry which is increasing-ly coming under threat.

This coalition must step up campaigns to enlighten the world about its tobacco pro-duction systems to minimise the impact of bad publicity coming from the strong anti-tobacco lobby groupings.

If this coalition doesn’t speak out with a stronger voice, the SADC tobacco in-dustry will collapse and toss millions into poverty.

T The HRW commissioned some research-ers to investigate the abuse of children on tobacco farms in Zimbabwe.

The report is quite damning and captures the views of children some as young as 12. We all know that the anti-tobacco lobby group is well-oiled and can ooze information that can have serious ramifi-cations to the survival of the tobacco in-dustry.

Just recently, the US government sus-pended all imports of tobacco from Mala-wi over child labour allegations.

According to media reports, the ban fol-lowed the news that human rights lawyers are bringing a case against British Ameri-can Tobacco (BAT) in a London high court over child labour allegations on Malawi’s tobacco fields.

Lawyers are acting for nearly 2 000 claim-ants — children and their parents — and expect that up to 15 000 will join the case.“US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on Friday issued a Withhold Re-lease order on tobacco from Malawi, meaning shipments arriving in the United States will be detained at the port of en-try,” a UK-based publication reported.

“Importers will have to prove the tobac-co is not produced with labour prohibited under US law to have the shipment re-leased.”

Big tobacco companies now have to prove that their tobacco does not include tobacco from Malawi that was produced with labour prohibited under US law.

Human rights and anti-tobacco lobby groups feel strongly that this action by the CBP will force companies to deal with child labour allegations on the ground in Malawi and the entire SADC region.

Zimbabwe and most other countries are not immune to the CBP sanctions if they do not put their act together.

The T-5 coalition must push all big tobac-co companies to fund programmes that will reduce child labour cases in the re-gion.

Their sustainability programmes must be visible and prominent to demonstrate the region’s commitment to fighting child la-

bour. Everything is working against the T-5 coalition and the International Labour Organisation of the United Nations says child labour in tobacco is increasing, not reducing.

Governments and labour unions must tar-get to improve the quality of farmers’ lives and support their children’s education.

Most of the countries under the T5 coa-lition are increasingly finding it difficult to battle the anti-lobby campaign which is calling for the imposition of tighter regu-lations and heavy taxes on their tobacco industries —which are a major source of foreign currency and major employer.

Anti-tobacco regulations are tightening over public-place smoking, point-of-sale communication and display, graph-ic health warnings and plain packaging among other restrictions.

The tobacco industry is a complex web with various competing interest of both African and global multinational corpora-tions. Multinationals still earn billions from tobacco produced by African countries.

It’s a major cash cow for the SADC coun-tries. T-5 countries must improve farm labour rights and the welfare, health and safety of children in their member states.

Leaf operations must also strive to active-ly participate in all sustainable tobacco production systems that meet ILO stan-dards that cover child labour and farm-worker wages.

Insight & Analysis



Documents

Researchers forecast El Nino in 2020 - Mozambique Agrimoz-agri.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/oct-dec2019en.pdf · News Brief : .....5 Cover Story Researchers forecast El Nino in