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The Tropentag 2005 is the seventh annual meeting providing a forum for scientists, experts and students involved in research for development. The Tropentag 2005 conference theme is The Global Food & Product Chain – Dynamics, Innovations, Conflicts, Strategies.
Sustainable use and conservation of natural resources are priorities of the international community. Land, freshwater, energy, and biodiversity in natural and agricultural ecosystems are resources increasingly at stake. With view to the growing world population, the supply with agricultural commodities and food, food security, -quality and -safety must be achieved through an ever more efficient use of resources rather than through extending resource use. Achieving the United Nations Millennium Goals requires a considerable rise in overall food production, in which many international stakeholders take an interest. This leads to a global use of local resources, with global actors increasingly dominating the competition for access to these resources. The globalisation of food markets and the regulation of production through certification as means of consumer and market protection favours food industries rather than smallholder agriculture. With increasing globalisation, local food chains are articulated into a global food web, in which large scale agriculture serves the world market whereas smallholder agriculture rather serves domestic demands. In this context, not only industrialised agricultural production but also post harvest and food processing industries gain importance. A multitude of new issues arise in the field of resource definition, allocation, and use.
The Tropentag 2005 addresses the dynamics of the above processes, conflicts arising there from, strategies to overcome these conflicts and contribute to attaining food security and food safety and innovations that could form part of these strategies The organisers are overwhelmed by the large number of submitted contributions from scientists in Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America, underlining the Tropentag’s reputation as an international event on the agenda of the development oriented scientific community and decision makers alike. The programme and proceedings are published on www.tropentag.de/2005/.
The organisers acknowledge the generous support obtained from the following institutions:
Hohenheim, September 2005
for the Organising and Scientific Committee
Prof. Dr. Klaus Becker
Dr. Eric Tielkes
Dr. Christian Hülsebusch