When discussing challenges in tropical agriculture, is it actually necessary to talk to researchers from the tropics? Birgit Zipf, second-year student reporter for the Tropentag 2014 conference, certainly believes so! She's tired of attending conferences where German, British, and American presenters are “talking about the ‘others’” from developing regions, instead of inviting and “rather talking with them.” But why is this distinction particularly important to Birgit? (Continue...)

Agroforestry has the potential to provide numerous benefits including; maintenance of soil fertility, reduction of soil erosion, conservation of water, carbon capture, biodiversity conservation, poverty reduction and contribution to food security - this is according to Mr. Martin Juvanov of GIZ. He was speaking during the GIZ session at Tropentag 2011 on the topic “agricultural research for development of sustainable land use based on agroforestry systems in semi arid areas in Bolivia”. He started by explaining that land degradation and impact of climate change is a major challenge in Bolivia. He also referred to more frequent and more intense natural desasters like water scacity, drought in semi-arid regions, increase of hailstorms, flush floods, lanslides in highlands, increasing food insecurity, higher temperatures, and shorter growing season for farmers as major indicators of climate change impacts in Bolivia. Technical and structural challenge Mr. Juvanov also discussed some technical and structural challenges facing people in Bolivia as; 1. Non-sustainble use of natural resources 2. Reduction of productivity 3. Increasing of poverty among people 4. Insufficient exchange/flow of information and knowledge and 5. Inssuficient intersectional cordination Set up of GIZ technical cooperation in Bolivia He gave an overview of the work and involvment of GIZ in Bolivia citing their major roles as; 1. Implementation of national sector programmes

The talk entitled “sustainable management of resources in agriculture in a fragile and resource poor context” was presented by Jutta Schmiz who works with GIZ on a sector project aimed at sustainable management of resources and agriculture. She started her talk by explaining that fragile ecosystems are either caused by nature or by human interference and that this usually affect ecosystems, making them unable to achieve their basic functions properly. She also noted that agriculture is not only a part of the solution but can also be part of the problem. According to her, agriculture can contribute to the solution but if done in the wrong way (using bad farming practices), it also increases the fragility of the ecosystem. The speaker noted that fragility is not only attributable to resources but that even countries can be in fragile conditions. She explained that nations or states can be said to be fragile when there are weak institutions which fail to provide basic services to the population and this is mostly in developing countries. Such fragile nations may experience problems such as; low water availability, soil infertility and unavailability of other resources needed for agriculture and healthy livelihoods. Global challenges in Agriculture According to Jutta Schmiz, agriculture faces numerous challenges which may slightly vary in different parts of the world. She mentioned some common ones as; 1. Rapidly growing population 2. Changing diets especially with more meat requirements

Agriculture is a major contributor to global carbon dioxide emission according to Prof. Rattan Lal, distinguished professor at the Ohio State University, USA who presented on marginal soils at Tropentag 2011 . He defined marginal soils as “soils of poor quality and characterized by low ecosystem functions and services”. He also underscored the linkages between soils and the ecosystem and spoke about the importance of soil for humanity. He said that when soils get marginalized, people also get marginalized and that when farming occurs, nutrients are removed and these nutrients must be replaced one way or another, otherwise soils then get marginalized. According to him, if the millennium development goals would be achieved, then soils should be taken more seriously and properly protected. Soil degradation Land is needed for human settlement especially with population growth and urbanization, and Prof. Lal estimates that up to about 400, 000 ha of land is needed per year for one million people which means that about 3 million ha is converted to areas of human habitation each year. Another cause of soil degradation he mentioned is the use of top soil for brick/block making as well as use of soil for sale. He stated that, “soils can provide for our needs but not our greed”.

Agriculture science for most people has this name of being bad, of being about pollution, about large-scale, about the destruction of the environment. That is not necessary. We need more science and not less. And we need good science. But there is something we must do. It's not enough to say "Let's get more bold science into agriculture." We ourselves must go back, and think about our own food chain. We need to think differently about our science as a whole. Every meal we eat contains ingredients from all across the world. Everything makes us so privileged, that we can eat this food, that we don't struggle every day. And that, evolutionarily-speaking, is unique. We've never had that before. This is why it's time for agricutural scientists to stand for responsible agriculture and food consumption, as they are crucial to world stability. Enjoy the talk of Louise Fresco, a powerful thinker and sustainability advisor, on feeding the whole world. She says environmentally sound mass production will feed the world, yet leaving a role for small scalers and traditional methods.

After three days of intense debates, the Tropentag did not arrive at a final destination but at a road sign pointing in several directions. Figuratively speaking, Jack Heinemann, Professor for Genetics and Gene Ecology at the University of Canterbury, NZ, and author of the book “Hope not Hype: The Future of Agriculture”, had pulled the road sign out of the ground and was waving it in front of the audience that had gathered for a last time in the Scherrer Auditorium of ETH Zurich. Mr. Heinemann spoke about the findings and opportunities envisioned by the IAASTD report to which he contributed as co-author. Jack Heinemann presenting the IAASTD

This is a sample of some of the great mixed cropping, agroforestry and biofuels oral presentations at Tropentag Strategies to Use Biofuel Value Chain Potential in Sub-saharan Africa to Respond to Global Change Enhancing Low-productivity Farming in Tanzania and Linking to SMEs – Stefan Sieber Some of the most significant global drivers stem from energy demands. This study examined new strategies to improve value chains and biofuel potential in order to provide communities in Sub-Saharan Africa with multiple energy services. The study took place in Tanzania, however global applications of the findings was one of the overall objectives. One way to improve energy demands in developing countries is though linking small scale farmers with small- to medium-scale enterprises. This research project worked with stakeholders in order to develop feasible strategies to maximize profit. The output from this collaborative effort was the development of global scenarios (applications in other countries), biomass production, consumption patterns, as well as a participatory biomass value chain. The objective of the research was to conduct a sustainability impact analysis and an information system for policy/decision support.