Most of you have noticed that this year's Tropentag is being held in Zurich. Therefore, there was a Swiss Session today, giving Swiss organizations from the field of agricultural and rural development like the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation or the Swiss College of Agriculture an opportunity to present their work. One special guest of the Session was a Swiss institution far older than the other organizations that many people do not relate to issues of development at the first glance: Nestlé. The world's largest food company was represented by Hans Jöhr, Corporate Head of Agriculture of Nestlé. Mr. Jöhr delivered an adress on “effective contribution to ensure supply of safe, quality assured and affordable products to consumers”, in short, Nestlé's contribution to global food supplies.

Gum arabic production by growing Hashab trees (Acacia senegal), contributs 12% to the GDP of Sudan and is threatened by drought and insect attack. To solve this problem, Maymoona Ahmed Eisa suggested to increase knowledge diffusion on insect pests in A. senegal and call for governmental and non governmental effort to encourage farmers to reestablish Hashab trees. Broomrape Phelipanche ramosa is an obligate root parasite. It is considered to be the most pestiferous of all Phelipanche spp due to ist high seed production, vigorous growth and lack of natural enemies. In a pot experiment, Tilal Abdelhalim studied arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi as a possible biological control agent in tomatoes. Colonization of tomato roots with three myccorhizal fungi Glomus spp suggested a potential to reduce seed germination. Still talking of tomatoes, there is no single control measure for bacterial wilt. Taking on this challenge, Henok Kurabachew tested the effect of silicon and a rhizobacteria. Silicon proved to be more effective than the rhizobacteria. Further, a dual apllication showed antagonistic effects unlike the application of one agent only.

This is a flavour of one of the six presentations that occurred in the Genetic Resources Oral Presentations on Wednesday, September 15th. Genetic Diversity and Adaptation of Date Palm (Pheonix dactylifera L.) – Sakina Elshibli The date palm produces sugar rich fruits which are cultivated in arid areas of the world. One kilogram of dates produces approximately 3000 calories. Palm dates also contain a wide range of nutrients, vitamins, and amino acids. The date palm can tolerate drought, but when the fruit is cultivated irrigation is needed. Date palms are useful because they provide small microclimates through shade. They also have a wide range of social and economic values, such as a housing material. This is especially true in Sudan where this study was carried out. There is an apparent diversity of date palms (fruit shape, side leaf structure, and morphology stages.) Dates are usually divided into two groups: dry and soft. In Sudan there is no genetic characterization of morphological variability in date palms. Over past twenty years production has increased, however stresses have also increased. These stresses include: floods, spread of diseases, desertification, and drought. Propagation is also a main constraint to increased cultivation. Date palm seeds are not suitable for cloning. It is only possible for few cultivars to be cloned, leading to date palm monocultures. A high percentage of off-types increase the risk of contamination for traditional cultivars.

In the light of climate change, GTZ otherwise known as the international cooperation enterprise for sustainable development, lately emphasized their projects on issues dealing with sustainable management of natural resources. The results on four projects of GTZ were presented on Tropentag 2nd day of conference. One project highlighted is presented by Dr. Markus Buerli, SDC Programme Officer for Mongolia, which focused on a project on pasture ecosystem management; with a topic preserving the Green Gold of Mongolia. The main approach of the Green Gold project which started in 2004 was to facilitate the formation of Pasture User Groups (PUGs) which – lately – comprises of 10,000 herders, in order to support these groups in attaining legal recognition, empowerment of the communities, collective actions as well as to develop pasture management plans.

Kanitta Tikam: Digestibility of Nutrients and Evaluation of Energy of Pangola Grass in Sheep as Compared to Napier Grass Roughage is a good source of food for sheep in Thailand. But this type of food is expensive for farmers. Pangola is a tropical grass that can be grown well in Thailand. The research showed that Pangola grass is a good source of roughage for sheep in Thailand, which can also easily be preserved as hay and silage. Siriwan Martens: Growth of Pigs Fed with Vigna unguiculata (Cowpea) Herbage Meal as Protein Supplement Increase demand pork, poultry meat in tropics; this is a market chance for smallholder pig farmers. However limited access to feed and high prices of feed. Cowpea is a crop that is easily grown in (sub)humid tropical environments and is high in protein, so this might be a good protein supplement for pigs in the tropics. The pigs grew well when eating cowpea and thus this might me a good protein supplement. Svenja Marquardt: Intake of Supplementary Feeds by Cattle and Goats in an Indian Pastoral System as Estimated by Direct Observations, Micro-histology and Owner Survey

In this morning’s oral presentations on Agronomic Practices, Wolfgang Pfingst opened the session with his study on the cultivation, processing and marketing of the endangered orchid species Dendrobium chrysotoxum in China. Their honey-flavored flowers are a high priced neglected non-timber food product that could bring additional income to farmers. By selling them through the channel of a local Chinese enterprise, the demand on the European market could be met. Camilo Lesmes Fabian designed a new model for dermal and inhalation exposure assessment of pesticide application in Colombia since existing models being developed in Europe are not applicable for the Colombian conditions. His dynamic model includes working tasks, environmental compartments, protection and exposure concentrations. Ali Mokhtassi-Bidgoli’s study took place within the wheat production project in Iran in order to develop a crop production system that minimizes energy input. In short, most of the energy use comes from non-renewable energy. Kibet Ngetich compared three different ethnic groups in the Mau Escarpment, Kenya for their adoption of organic farming in crop production. Concluding, there’s an urgent need for ethnically focused approaches of introducing organic farming.

A junior researcher commented on 14 th September, 'I wanted to participate in a conference in Mexico, but I could not. It was costly. I found the Tropentag is more cheaper for a student to participate'. Actually Tropentag has more to offer for young professionals. Watch and listen to the human resources department of GTZ, how as a development agency they like to use this event to search for potential young professionals.

Although early in the morning, the headlines attracted many participants. Padruot Fried from the Swiss Forum for international Agricultural Research (SFIAR) gently led trough the headlines: Public support from SDC Yves Guinand from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) highlighted the contribution from the Swiss Confederation with respect to food security. Swiss Research Institutions Prof. Bernard Lehmann, dean of the department of Food- and Agriculture (D-AGRL) at ETH Zurich, Fritz Schneider from the Swiss college of Agriculture (SHL), Markus Giger from the Centre of Development and environment of University of Berne (CDE) and the National Centre of Competence in Research North-South (NCCR North-South) and Urs Niggli from the Swiss research institution for organic agriculture (FiBL) then outlined the available resources and the strategies in addressing the particular research interests respectively. Private Initiatives Hans Jöhr from the Nestlé Company was glad to present a sample of different sustainable agriculture initiatives from different emerging countries. SFIAR award ceremony