Tropentag 2023 - General Information

Competing pathways for equitable food systems transformation:
trade-offs and synergies

September 20 - 22, 2023
organised by
The Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), Germany
in cooperation with
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany

General information

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 will be organised as a hybrid conference by Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Recearch (ZALF), Germany, in cooperation with the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany. This means that, we will have an in-person conference, but that all oral presentation sessions will be streamed live via our conference app. Interested participants will be able to attend. There will also be in-person poster presentation sessions - these will not be streamed, but the posters will be made available on our website. A few poster presentation sessions will be organised online showing pre-recorded poster presentations followed by a discussion between the presenters and participants. The organisers will ensure that TT23 attendees will have the possibility to interact with the presenters, chairs- and participants.

All MSc and PhD students, scientists, extension workers, decision makers and politicy-makers interested and involved in agricultural research and rural development in transition and developing countries are cordially invited to attend and actively contribute. We particularly encourage young researchers (MSc and PhD students and post-docs) to present their work.

Target of the conference

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 Tropentag 2023 conference theme

Competing pathways for equitable food systems transformation: trade-offs and synergies.

The need to transform food systems is ever more pressing. COVID-19, climate change, conflicts, wars, and growing social and income inequalities are exposing the vulnerabilities of our food systems. Although food systems are producing as much food and calories as ever before, global crop and dietary diversity are steadily declining. This has increased the vulnerability of our environment and food production to climatic shocks, with negative impacts on human nutrition and health. Rising food and fuel prices make healthy diets less affordable, particularly for the most marginalized. Food systems provide many jobs, but many of these jobs, especially those held by women, are insecure, underpaid and unsafe. The importance of looking at food systems as a whole and transforming them to be just, equitable and sustainable has been widely recognised.

But what such a transformation of food systems should and could look like remains hotly contested. Some argue for more technical solutions, such as climate-smart agriculture and biofortified crops, while others call for a paradigm shift in the way we think about and practice the underlying relationships of our food systems, such as agroecology and alternative food networks. Despite the ongoing debate on the direction and solutions for food systems transformation, it is clear that priorities differ across countries, regions, and households, with different trade-offs and synergies.

Tropentag 2023 invites a debate on competing pathways for food systems transformation, drawing from diverse perspectives, disciplines and methodologies. Plenary discussions, thematic sessions, guided poster tours, and workshops will engage participants in a lively debate on the benefits and costs of different of food systems transformation pathways and the associated trade-offs and synergies for different stakeholders.

Keynote speakers

fiat panis award session

On the occasion of this conference a special session will be devoted to the presentation of the "Hans H. Ruthenberg-Graduate-Award" by the fiat panis foundation, Ulm.

Oral and poster presentations

The oral presentations of the Tropentag 2023 will be organised in four sessions, probably six parallel thematic groups. Posters will be presented in parallel guided poster sessions The exact time frame of these sessions will be communicated after selection of the submitted abstracts.

Pre- and post-conference workshops

We offer you the opportunity to organise your own workshop, tailored to your target audience. The idea is that you either network around a specific topic or you offer capacity building, tasks forces for projects and follow your own initiative. The only condition is that your topic should be related to tropical agriculture in a broader sense. The workshops will take place on Tuesday 19 September, 2023 from 13:00 to 18:00 h, Wednesday 20 September, from 08:30 to 11:30 h. or Friday 22 September from 14:30 to 18:00 h.

If you are interested you need to apply and describe the aim and topic of the workshop using the following template. Fill in the template and send it to info

tropentag.de no later than 20 May, 2023.

You will receive feedback of your application by 20 June and in case of approval, details such as room allocation, further logistics and potential additional services will be discussed individually with the Tropentag management.

The complete workshop plan with contact addresses will be made available on our website.

Conference fee

Especially for a hybrid Tropentag conference, registration fees are required to pay for software and the organisation of the sessions. For those attending in person, the fee includes a conference bag, and refreshments during the conference breaks. The fee does not include accommodation, lunches or the conference dinner. The book of abstracts can be purchased by in-person participants for five euros only. The conference fee and payment conditions can be found here.

Tropentag 2023: