Women farmers have a specific profile both of illness and of complaints, exhibiting a higher frequency of diseases than women of other occupations but, at the same time, registering fewer complaints. Women farmers tend to consider their own state of health less satisfactory than do other women but demand medical attention less readily. This seemingly contradictory picture is discussed and interpreted, taking into consideration the special situation of these women and the stress factors to which they are subjected. The results were taken from an study conducted in southern Wuerttemberg in 1990 during the course of which 775 farmer's women were questioned about their state of health.
Scenarios of the future are an important tool for supporting sustainability-oriented regional planning. To assist regional planning in two federal states in semi-arid Northeastern Brazil, Ceará and Piauí, we developed integrated qualitative-quantitative scenarios which show potential developments of the agricultural and water resources situation until the year 2025. In these states, regional development is negatively influenced by the high seasonality of rainfall and El-Niño-related drought years. Two reference scenarios, "Coastal Boom and Cash Crops" and "Decentralization ⎯ Integrated Rural Development" were generated by first creating the storylines and then quantifying the development of the driving forces. Then, an integrated model, which includes modules for simulating water availability, water demand and agricultural production and income, was applied to compute the temporal development of relevant system indicators in each of the 332 municipalities of Ceará and Piauí. These indicators include the fraction of the irrigation water demand than can be satisfied, the volume of water which is stored in the reservoirs at the beginning of the dry season, agricultural productivity and production as well a the internal migration among scenario regions. In addition, the impact of certain policy measures was assessed on the background of both reference scenarios. Reference and intervention scenarios were derived by an interdisciplinary group of scientists and were discussed and refined during policy workshops with planning agencies of Ceará.
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