Gaza Province
Gaza's Limpopo floodplains produce Mozambique's agricultural heartland—rice and cashew exports—while Tropical Storm Filipo (March 2024) showed cyclone vulnerability affecting 48,000+ residents.
Gaza Province exists because the Limpopo River exists—Mozambique's largest province shaped by the floodplains that make agriculture possible and the droughts that periodically devastate it. The Gaza Empire under Ngungunhane dominated this region until Portuguese conquest in 1895, and that historical resistance echoes in the province's strong FRELIMO loyalty. Today Gaza serves as Mozambique's agricultural heartland: rice paddies, cashew plantations, and citrus groves feeding both domestic markets and exports.
The Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park links Gaza to South Africa's Kruger and Zimbabwe's Gonarezhou, creating one of Africa's largest conservation areas. This cross-border ecosystem supports elephant migrations that colonial boundaries had interrupted, while eco-tourism provides alternative income to subsistence farming. In September 2024, President Chapo inaugurated a $140 million tourism project in Massingir district—the Swiss-based AMAN Group building international-standard hotels and creating 400 jobs for local youth.
But Gaza's position along Mozambique's cyclone corridor creates recurring vulnerability. Tropical Storm Filipo in March 2024 affected over 48,000 people across Gaza, Inhambane, and southern provinces, destroying crops and homes in patterns that repeat every few years. Climate models predict intensifying storm seasons ahead. Despite recording 39.6% of Mozambique's new jobs in late 2024, the southern region reports 33.4% unemployment, with women disproportionately affected.
By 2026, Gaza must balance agricultural expansion against climate adaptation—the same Limpopo floodplains that enable farming also concentrate risk when cyclones arrive.