Knowledge Management Portal

Startup models were always designed for a high-risk-and-uncertainty environment. Established businesses need to think and act more like startups. They have to continuously experiment and discover new ways to create value, validate and adapt their model, recognize and adapt to changes more rapidly all while continuing to execute and scale the business.

In 2050, the countries of the African shore should count a number of under 25s higher than that of the other two joint banks: according to the forecast scenario, 111 million young people under the age of 25 will live in the countries of the African shore against 50 millions of those on the Asian side and 42 million on the European side. More than 50% of the "Mediterranean youth" will be concentrated in just five countries: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt (2019, United Nation).

In the past years the policy choices privileged the big hydraulic infrastructures in irrigation giving priorities to the quantitative aspect rather than the qualitative (Supply Management).

1. MIP report is an annual edition of “Innovation processes in the Mediterranean actors, policies and future perspectives of the innovation chain”. It is the fruit of joint collaboration among the representatives of MIP country members Albania, Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine and Tunisia; 2. It is a unique document as there is no bibliography (data bank) covering the Mediterranean countries regarding the topics listed in this report and collected «in loco»; 3. Survey method consists into questionnaires (via e –mail), interviews (face-to-face interview of the respondent), phone calls and bibliography; 4. Challenges: no available data online, no official reference in the countries (mapping ISO, N.start-ups), no easy collaboration.

Management of broomrape (Orobanche crenata Fosk.) that causes important damages on lentil production becomes a veritable concern in the Mediterranean region. Eighty lentil accessions were evaluated for resistance to O. crenata under field and controlled conditions. Both genotypes ILL6415 and ILL7723 expressed the highest resistance level under field and pot experiment with low Orobanche infestation and relatively high seed yield (50.1 g m−2). Such resistance was associated with physiological and biochemical changes in metabolites profiling. In total, 109 and 115 metabolites were identified in the lipophilic phase of both ILL6415 and ILL7723, respectively, against only 92 metabolites recorded for susceptible check Zaaria. Significant differences were observed in metabolite concentrations (fatty acids, sterols alkanes) between roots and shoots of susceptible and resistant infested plants. Accumulation of α-linolenic acid and arachidic acid was more pronounced in the resistant genotypes ILL6415, ILL7723 which could be associated with resistance pathways involved in the resistance to O. crenata.

Knowledge Management Workshop manuscripts package from Sudanese national partners.

Agroforestry systems can be an effective means of stabilizing or even enhancing crop yields under climate change. Although trees compete with crops for soil resources in agroforestry, they can also improve crops’ growing conditions, especially, by providing shade under drought. They can promote higher crop yields and higher harvest quality in the drylands. However, the beneficial effect of tree shade may depend on the seasonal pattern of rainfall, which determines the compensation between yield components. In this study, we evaluated two annual crops (durum wheat and faba bean) in olive agroforestry in northern Morocco. We manipulated water supply in a field experiment to span the high inter-annual rainfall variability at the site and tested whether olive trees reduce or improve crop yields. We assessed the effect of water addition on crop growth, yield components, and final yields and estimated the land equivalent ratio of olive agroforestry. Agroforestry limited crop growth and yield whatever the water regime. The magnitude of grain yield reduction was around 50 % for both crops in 2018, probably due to shade. The number of grains per unit area was the most impacted yield component in both 2018 and 2019. In contrast, water addition only had limited effects on faba bean yield, although it enhanced wheat grain yield by 11 % and the number of wheat spikes by 13 %. Agroforestry improved individual grain weight by 39 % for wheat and 17 % for faba bean, and enhanced the protein content of wheat grains and straw by 4 % and 9 %. However, improvements in grain weight and in protein content were not sufficient to compensate for yield loss due to shade. Despite lower crop yields, we show that agroforestry systems are still more land productive than sole crops and trees, even under arid conditions. We show how changing water supply may impact the performance of olive agroforestry in a drier future.

CIHEAM Bari’s activities are located under the Component 2: Capacity development and knowledge systematization and consequently they aim to strengthen human and institutional capacities to manage the systematization of good practices. The experience of the "lock down" due to COVID 19 has paradoxically exalted positively, despite the drama of the event, the importance of systems for carrying out various remote activities through recent online technologies on the Web (smart working, e-learning, web meetings, webinars, etc.). The objective of the training was to answer the partners needs for capacity building and to extend on demand the session E-Learning and Remote Technical Assistance (RTA): the experience of CIHEAM Bari that was advanced during the training above mentioned. Those tools are mainly used for Knowledge sharing that is one of the knowledge management main processes. In this follow-up, the general principles of distance information and training, the management methodologies of information systems, the criteria for the presentation and delivery of content and some technological applications for web meetings and webinars were presented (Annex 1). Training a limited number of participants is only the jumping off point and the trained persons at their turn will share their knowledge with others. Moreover, the SKiM learning week multimedia material was organized and set up as online open access course that will give the opportunity to a larger number of persons to access to knowledge (https://mip.iamb.it/index.php/training).