800 participants, 1100 presenters tried to come of which 520 actually reached Zurich, 24 oral sessions and 29 guided poster sessions. The basket of knowledge was tremendous and immensely diverse. Folkard Asch had the honor to wrap up this year’s conference Tropentag 2010. “World food system – a contribution from Europe” – the goal of this year’s conference was set high. Networking, discussing and talking about burning issues, meetings of generations, exchanging experience and insights. That’s the way forward in letting the whole world integrate and bring together the scattered but enormous wealth of knowledge. It’s our responsibility to provide a think tank and become embedded in the larger and more complex network of the globe. “A mutual understanding of the cultural diversity is needed” says Folkard Asch. Poster award Out of more than 350 posters the “international” jury consisting of Bernard Lehmann (ETH Zurich), Mathias Becker (University of Bonn), Christian Hülsebusch (DITSL Witzenhausen), Ursula Gugger Suter (North-South Centrehttp://blog.tropentag.de/node/113/edit) awarded Dimitrios Argyropoulos (1.), Katja Kehlenbeck (2.) and Sabine Stürz (3.). Dimitrios Argyropoulos, University of Hohenheim, presenting his award-winning poster.

Indonesia is in the spotlight! At least three out of the six participants who did their oral presentation at the Tropentag annual conference on Tuesday (15/9), had drawn their interest on the country known to the world as the third largest forest nation after Brazil and the Republic of Congo. And the theme on forest management was a kick off with a total of 6 participants (oral presentations) focusing on case studies coming from developing countries. The latest scheme of Reducing Emission on Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD) was presented by Thomas Baldauf (vTI/ von Thuenen-Institute, Institute for World Forestry, Germany), with a topic of Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD): A Climate Change Mitigation Strategy on a Critical Track who focused his research in Indonesia and Madagascar. According to the speaker, and as a result to his research, the REDD scheme was seen to benefit Indonesia the most, due to the high deforestation rates in the country that was lately ranked as the 3rd largest greenhouse gas emitter due to deforestation (based on a report study released by Worldbank).

Oral Presentation III: Aquaculture and fisheries Ulfert Focken from Johann Heinrich von Thuenen-Institut opened the session where 3 participants presented their papers and moderated a quite lively discussion. Raymond Ouedraogo: Management of Fish Diversity in Lake Bam, Burkina Faso: Indigenous Knowledge and Implications for Conservation Raymond discussed that management of any type of resources particularly fish resources needs to account indigenous knowledge as it does have a distinct impact on its conservation. Further, he indicated that there are certain indigenous beliefs needs to be changed as these pushed for depletion of the fish stock. He even cites cases wherein people believe that “fish drop from sky and come from hills and caves” or that “authorities have to power to hide fish”. Furthermore, communal belief can be altered by institutions, education, religions, and economic change to push people towards the conservation their natural resources so not to push it to the brink of depletion. As of the moment, there are actions emanating from the grass roots level to provide conservation efforts like creating mini-dams and planting trees to fully delineate Lake Bam.

After got introduced to the palm oil production potential in Tanzania by Anna Segerstedt from the Institut for Environetal Economics and World Trade at the Leibnitz University Hannover with respect to sustainability standards the point was clear: there is no chance under the assumed conditions to produce palm oil for the export market as well as for label production due to export barriers and costs linked to certification respectively. Ms Segerstedt found however, that according to her results the palm oil production for the local market is competitive. Zora Lea Urech from the Department of Environmental Sciences at ETH Zurich outlined in her interesting presentation possible drivers leading to further deforestation in the eastern part of Madagascar taking into consideration the main components of the livelihood strategies of small farm-households. The complex land tenure system, next to other factors, hinders a sustainable use of the forest ecosystems and need to be further investigated.

Starting the session, Ruben Kretzschmar talked about the „largest mass poisoning in human history“, the arsenic (As) crisis in Bangladesh. For Boro rice production, which makes up 50% of total, shallow ground water polluted with As is used for irrigation. The long-term study revealed an As input due to irrigation, on the other hand monsoon flooding that counteracts the As accumulation but does not prevent it. Thus current agricultural practices in rice production are not sustainable. Jan Jansa’s study subject was the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) symbiosis for maize in humid Cameroonian soil. AMF help the maize with nutrient acquisition, soil structure and soil biological activity. Soil of forest, short fallow and crop land was compared in regard to AMF. It revealed that the more intensified the practise, the higher the AMF impact on maize growth. Further, fungal communities in forest soil differed from other cropping systems and proved to be least beneficial to maize. Conservation agriculture of maize in salt-affected irrigation systems of Uzbekistan carries great potential to make a crop production system sustainable. Mina Dekota compared two tillage systems (permanent bed vs conventional tillage) and two residue levels (retained vs harvested). The results were remarkable: Compared to conventional tillage, the permanent bed had greater biomass production, higher grain yield, higher water productivity and lower soil salinity.

Using well recorded data of 42 years from a former cattle ranch at the coast of Tanzania, Peter J. Edwards showed impressively how farm management can influence a very fragile ecosystem. Changes in soil nutrient relationships and changes in vegetation mainly due to the grazing and the penetrating bush encroachment of Acacia zanzibarica were the result. Lutz Merbold’s case study in Miombo woodlands of Western Zambia unraveled the Charcoal Trap. An increase in energy demand and the migration of the people to the urban areas for employment call for an increased demand of charcoal since it has a higher energy density and is cheaper for transport. He concluded that the resulting increase of deforestation and thus additional carbon emissions are very large in developing countries. Depending on the resilience of woodlands, the lost carbon from forest degradation may be regained by reestablishment of forests and the consideration of alternative energy sources. The third talk took the audience to India’s coffee production. Virgine Boreux introduced the relationship between bee pollination of three main pollinators identified and the fruit set of coffee plantations. Pollination by bees has a long term impact extending until harvest. The study showed that the fewer sites that are flowering simultaneously, the higher bee abundance was found. In conclusion, irrigation triggering the flowering of the coffee could be used to attract bees. Thus asynchronous irrigation to the monsoon rains can be used in effective plantation management.

ADEBAYO ABRAHAM ADEWUMI: Lean Meat for the 21st Century: A Case Study of Emu Dromaius Novae Hollandiae [Le Souef 1907] The emu bird, only slightly smaller than the ostrich, is originally from Australia. It will grow up to two meters tall and weigh 60 kg. Its red meat is almost fat free, low in cholesterol and high in protein and iron. In the study, the meat of 16 emus was analyzed and compared to beef. Emu meat's cholesterol level is about 35% lower than that of beef. In regards to the total minerals there were no differences. Since consumers are looking for appetizing food and are increasingly basing their choice on fat, calories and cholesterol, Emu meat is the perfect choice. FOLUSHO UGWU: Complimentary Feeding Practices and Nutrient Intake of Children Aged 6-18 Months in Ebonyi State, South East Nigeria