Wednesday, September 20, 2023

Tropentag 2023

20 – 22 September 2023. Tropentag 2023 - Competing Pathways for Equitable Food Systems Transformation: Trade-Offs and Synergies

The Tropentag is a development-oriented and interdisciplinary conference. It addresses issues of resource management, environment, agriculture, forestry, livestock, food, nutrition and related sciences in the context of rural development, sustainable resource use and poverty alleviation worldwide.

The annual interdisciplinary conference on research in tropical and subtropical agriculture, natural resource management and rural development (Tropentag) is jointly organised by the universities of Berlin, Bonn, Göttingen, Hohenheim, Kassel-Witzenhausen, ZALF e.V. (all Germany), Ghent University (Belgium), Czech University of Life Sciences Prague (Czech Republic), BOKU Vienna (Austria), and the Council for Tropical and Subtropical Research (ATSAF e.V) in co-operation with the GIZ Fund International Agricultural Research (FIA).

Tropentag 2023 was organised as a hybrid conference by Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Recearch (ZALF), Germany, in cooperation with the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany.

IFPRI was featured as the CGIAR center of focus at this year’s Tropentag, an annual interdisciplinary conference on research in tropical and subtropical agriculture, natural resource management and rural development.

See the IFPRI PROGRAM
The conference programme booklet can be downloaded as pdf

Extracts of the programme

20/09 Welcome addresses and opening

Cem Özdemir, Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture, Germany
Julia Von Blumenthal, President of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany
Frank A. Ewert, Scientific director of ZALF Müncheberg, Germany
Dagmar Mithöfer (HU Berlin) and Stefan Sieber (ZALF), heads of organising committee
Folkard Asch, ATSAF / University of Hohenheim

20/09 Keynote speeches and discussion

Johan Swinnen, Director General IFPRI; CGIAR Managing Director Systems Transformation Science Group, USA
Achieving resilient food systems (Abstract)
Jody Harris, World Vegetable Centre, Thailand
Catherine Nakalembe, University of Maryland, USA

20/09 Advancing a demand-driven research portfolio to improve water, land and food systems in the Global South

CGIAR/Systems Transformation Action Area

CLAUDIA RINGLER, HUA XIE, RUTH MEINZEN-DICK, NICOS PEREZ:
The role of groundwater as an accelerator of agricultural transformation: Insights from the CGIAR initiative on NEXUS Gains
Abstract (ID 994 ): Web-Version (html) : Print Version (pdf)
: MARCELA QUINTERO, VERONIQUE ALARY, SARAH FREED, AYMEN FRIJA, LISA FUCHS, SARAH JONES, CHRISTINE LAMANNA, GUILLERMO ORJUELA, SIMONE STAIGER, CLAUDIA TRISTAN:
Leveraging agroecological transitions: Experiences from the CGIAR initiative on agroecology
Abstract (ID 995 ): Web-Version (html) : Print Version (pdf)
: ANA MARIA LOBOGUERRERO, JON HELLIN, SABRINA ROSE:
Applying a social equity approach to transformative adaptation: Minimising trade-offs between environmental and socio-economic outcomes
Abstract (ID 996 ): Web-Version (html) : Print Version (pdf)
: MARY EYENIYEH NGAIWI, NICOLAS HOYOS, ROBERT ANDRADE, MARIA DEL MAR ESPONDA, ELIZA VILLARINO, AUGUSTO CASTRO-NUNEZ:
Navigating climate mitigation in global food systems: Insights from CGIAR
Abstract (ID 997 ): Web-Version (html) : Print Version (pdf)
: JAWOO KOO, ANDREA GARDEAZABAL, JONATHAN STEINKE:
Responsible digital innovation in agri-food systems: ethical and equitable transformation for sustainable agriculture
Abstract (ID 1005 ): Web-Version (html) : Print Version (pdf)
: NICHOLAS MINOT:
CGIAR initiative on rethinking food markets: An overview and an example of preliminary results from Ethiopia
Abstract (ID 1006 ): Web-Version (html) : Print Version (pdf)
: HAUKE DAHL:
The stability-and-peace accelerator: scaling food, land and water systems innovations in fragile and conflict-affected settings
Abstract (ID 1010 ): Web-Version (html) : Print Version (pdf)
: CéLINE TERMOTE, INGE BROUWER, MARK LUNDY:
The retail food environment as driver of consumer choices and source of decent livelihoods
Abstract (ID 1009 ): Web-Version (html) : Print Version (pdf)

21/09 Research cooperation for sustainable development

Federal Ministry of Food and ABMBF/DLR session

: KIRSTEN KIENZLER, MIKHAIL RUSAKOV:
Research cooperation for sustainable development (BMBF/DLR session)
Abstract (ID 1007 ): Web-Version (html) : Print Version (pdf)

21/09 Payments for Ecosystem Services: Win-Win Solutions?

BMZ/GIZ

(Abstract)

Johan Swinnen, Director General IFPRI; CGIAR Managing Director Systems Transformation Science Group
Claudia Ringler, Director, Natural Resources and Resilience (NRR), IFPRI

Payments for ecosystem services: win-win solutions?
Abstract (ID 993 ): Web-Version (html) : Print Version (pdf)
Evidence suggests that payments for ecosystem services can diversify smallholder earnings and incentivize more sustainable farming and land management practices. While a number of such smallholder-focused schemes have been implemented around the world, they have not gained enough traction to improve farm incomes or environmental outcomes. This second seminar of the CGIAR Policy Seminar Series on Strengthening Food Systems examines past and current ecosystem service payment schemes targeted at smallholders, evaluates their effectiveness, and impacts, and explores how such schemes could be taken forward in order to help build greater resilience within food systems.

The impacts of groundwater development on agriculture food system in Senegal: A general equilibrium assessment (Abstract) - Angga Pradesha, Senior Scientist, IFPRI
A conceptual framework of living labs for people: Fostering innovations for low-emissions food systems and social equity (Abstract) - Ryan Nehring, Associate Research Fellow, IFPRI

21/09 Leveraging human rights-based action towards equitable food systems: A panel discussion (BMEL/BLE session)

Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL)

MAJA CLAUSEN, DR. LISA JäCKERING:
Leveraging human rights-based action towards equitable food systems
Abstract (ID 990 ): Web-Version (html) : Print Version (pdf)

In this BMEL-Session, the funding instruments that support a rights-based transformation of food systems were presented and experiences shared by an expert panel. Thus, revealing recommendations to drive systemic change.

Mrs. Patricia Kiprono, German Institute for Tropical and Subtropical Agriculture (DITSL)/Center for Research and Development in Drylands (CRDD), project ‘Enhancing women’s agency in navigating changing food environments to improve child nutrition in African drylands (NaviNut)’.
Sarah Luisa Brand, FAO
Dang To Kien, Social Policy Ecology Research Institute (SPERI), Vietnam, project ‘Nutrition Intervention Forecasting and Monitoring (NIFAM)’.
Dr. Andreas Gramzow, GFA Consulting Group GmbH.

Pre-conference workshops

19/09 Pre-conference workshops

Workshop 1: Accompanying research: enhancing the evidence base of development cooperation?

Humboldt-Universität Berlin + Leibniz-Institute for Agricultural Landscape Research + Université d’Antananarivo, Madagascar

Workshop 2: Transformative and art-based methods for integrating community voices: from concepts to operationalization

Humboldt-Universität Berlin + ZALF, Germany

Workshop 4: Empowering Researchers in Transformative Science Communication: Poster and Abstract Creation

AGRINATURA + YPARD

Workshop 5: Unregulated small-scale gold mining operations destroying farmlands, biodiversity and natural habitats: Exploring pathways for food security in Africa.

TH Köln-Cologne University of Applied Sciences, Germany + University of Ghana, Ghana

Workshop 7: Valorisation of biomass wastes from agriculture and agrifood industry for the production of energy in Africa

European project REFFECT AFRICA

Workshop 8: Agroecology in urban food systems for better nutrition in the African and Asian context

ETH-Zurich, Switzerland, IFAD, TMG Research, Swiss TPH, FAO), VdB Consulting

This workshop intended to incentivize the action research into bridging the conceptual framework of agroecology with the one of the food systems. In cities of the global South agroecology can be a crucial concept to foster access to nutritious and diverse food, as well as to reduce the risks associated with the excessive use of pesticides.
As an entry point for the workshop, the conceptual framework of agroecology in a food system approach was presented.
Further, it drew from case studies from different cities on how to evaluate the match between needs of city population in terms of nutritious and fresh food and local agriculture capacities to contribute to those needs.
Contributions were based on existing projects and networks, like the SDC Nutrition in City Ecosystems (NICE) project (with interventions in 6 secondary cities of Bangladesh, Kenya, and Rwanda), the Green Cities initiative at FAO, TMG’s Urban Food Future programme, and European projects.

Workshop 9: Can agroecology feed the world?

World Agroforestry Center + University Hohenheim

Workshop 10: Evidence for Policy: The Role of Impact Assessments at IFAD

IFAD

20/09 Pre-conference workshops

Workshop 11: Mixed Farming Systems in the tropics, a CGIAR Initiative in 5 countries / Challenges and Collaboration in Laos

CIMMYT +CIAT

Workshop 12: Applying Gender Sensitive Breeding in Forage Systems: What lessons and methods can we learn to move forward?

Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT

Workshop 13: Transition towards sustainable food systems – the hidden potential of Animal Welfare

Welttierschutzstiftung (WTS), Berlin

Workshop 15: Researching sustainable land management in sub-Sahara Africa

IDOS (German Institute of Development and Sustainability), Bonn

Workshop 16: Sustainable livelihoods and agrarian studies: what are the connections? An informal workshop led by Ian Scoones

Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex, UK

Workshop 17: Workshop 17: Ecosystem services in silvopastoral systems across regions – trade-offs or synergies?

Universidade Federal de Vicosa, Brazil + Hochschule Rhein-Waal, Germany

Workshop 18: Navigating Food Systems Transformation for Africa: Future Pathways between Paradigm Shifts and Proven Concepts.

University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart

This workshop clarified the potential and limitations of co-existing dominant narratives for sustainable agriculture in Africa. On the one hand, addressing challenges facing crop and livestock production on the continent has led to a proliferation of paradigms and practices for which a cohesive pathway of action is unclear. On the other hand, there are many proven, successful concepts. The workshop interrogated and deliberate on questions including: \

Under what conditions do agroecological practices compliment sustainable production without undermining socio-economic and cultural dynamics?
Under what circumstances do holistic farming approaches provide synergies between human - nature interactions while increasing productivity?
What examples exist of effective institutions and policies for agricultural production in complex environments?
How can digitalisation promote agricultural production where high levels of illiteracy exist and to what extent is indigenous knowledge leveraged? T