Deutscher Tropentag, October 9 - 11, 2002 in Kassel-Witzenhausen "Challenges to Organic Farming and Sustainable Land Use in the Tropics and Subtropics"

General Statement

University of Hohenheim, Institute for Animal Production in the Tropics and Subtropics, Department of Aquaculture Systems and Animal Nutrition

One of the questions asked of the participants in the podium discussion was whether the contributions to this Tropentag have tackled the current burning issues of organic farming.

As pointed out by the other discussants, most presentations at this conference did not concentrate on organic farming as such but rather on sustainable resource use and on extensive farming systems that are forced by the agro-ecological/socio-economic settings to rely on organic resources only.

The contributions have shown that there exist great many technically feasible and socially and economically viable options for sustainable (organic) farming in different regions, but a lot of interesting work is carried out in a somewhat isolated manner. Therefore, if we want to prove that sustainable (organic) farming can substantially contribute to farmers' livelihoods under different agro-ecological settings, we should try to quantify the production potential and spatial relevance of the systems or options under study at a regional, national and eco-regional level.

The second issue, which hardly has been considered at this conference, is urbanization. If we believe the projections, about 70% of the population of developing countries will live in cities by 2020, and the production of easily perishable goods, especially those such as vegetables and livestock products will increasingly take place in and around cities. This will lead to an accumulation of organic wastes (nutrients), and ways to effectively recycle these "waste" materials to peri-urban fields and gardens should attract our attention. At the same time, we should investigate how increasing urbanization of agricultural production affects farmers' livelihoods, farming systems and farm nutrient balances in remote areas.

Thirdly, the Tropentag did not discuss the issue of climatic change and the impact this will have on agricultural production in subtropical and tropical countries. Improvements of farming systems in semi arid regions have always been difficult if not actually fruitless, but, as Dr Garrity pointed out in his key-note, the rural poor very often have to live in these least favorable areas.

The trend to concentrate on sub-humid and humid regions as well as highlands, which is currently favoured by international and national agricultural research institutions, might turn out to be a mistake in 10-20 years, by which time currently productive areas may have lost their potential due to the increasing likelihood of drought. Therefore we have to continue our efforts to identify sustainable integrated farming options for semi-arid production conditions, and here the Tropentag covered one important aspect. The identification and in situ conservation of local varieties of food crops and adapted livestock breeds is a key to sustained and sustainable agricultural production under worsening agro-ecological conditions. The various efforts shown at this Tropentag have to be supported and increased so that drought tolerant plant and livestock species will beat hand the moment they are needed.