AVRDC

CORNUCOPIA10A day for the tropics in Germany(left): Discussion groups.(right): Opening session.(bottom): Christine Ludwig,Justus-Liebig University,Giessen, GermanyInternational Nutrition Unit,presents results on bitterThe annual Tropentag 2012Conference on Tropical andSubtropical Agricultural andNatural Management was held atGeorg August University ofGoettingen, Germany from 19 -21September 2012. The eventprovided an international forum fordevelopment and agriculturalresearch experts to share theirrecent findings, experience andknowledge on the topic of“Resilience of agricultural systemsagainst crises.”To address high climate variability,volatile markets, urbanization andsocial change, agricultural systemswill require practical, innovative,scalable and integrated approachesto ensure food production cancontinue despite sudden crises andoverall uncertainty.More than 1000 participants from80 countries attended Tropentag,which is the largest Europeanconference covering the fields ofresource management,environment, agriculture, forestry,fisheries, food, nutrition andrelated sciences for ruraldevelopment, sustainable resourceuse, and poverty alleviationworldwide. The conference broughttogether students, scientists,extension workers, decisionmakers, farmers, and othersengaged in agricultural researchand rural development in thetropics and subtropics.In a poster session, ChristineLudwig, Justus-Liebig University,Giessen, Germany InternationalNutrition Unit, explained thepreliminary results of a study onthe knowledge and use of bittergourd as an antidiabetic remedy inTanzania. The joint researchinvolves Sandra Habicht,postdoctoral scientist inBiochemical Nutrition at AVRDC –the World Vegetable Center,Mariella Kopf, MSc. Student,University of Giessen, and MarkSwai, Director of HospitalServices, Kilimanjaro ChristianMedical Center, Tanzania.Simone Kriesemer and DetlefVirchow from the Food SecurityCenter, University of Hohenheim,Germany, and KatinkaWeinberger, UN Centre forAlleviation of Poverty throughSustainable Agriculture inIndonesia gave an oral presentationentitled “Assessing sustainabletechnology options to increaseresilience of the poorest and mostvulnerable.” All three are AVRDCalumni: Detlef was Director forAVRDC’s Regional Center for Africafrom 2006 to 2008; Katinkaheaded the Center’sSocioeconomics group from 2000to 2010; and Simone was a postdocresearcher in Socioeconomics from2008 to 2011.