Tropentag 2012 Resilience of Agricultural Systems Against Crises September, Göttingen

Transcription

1 Tropentag 2012 Resilience of Agricultural Systems Against Crises September, Göttingen Anthony Whitbread (Göttingen) Andreas Bürkert (Kassel-Witzenhausen)

2 Tropentag 2012 a development orientated conference tackling food security, natural resource management and rural development in the (Sub-)Tropics This years theme Resilience of Agricultural Systems against Crises follows on from the Tropentag 2011 theme Development on the Margin

3 What is Resilience? Resilience is the capacity of a system to continually change and adapt yet remain within critical thresholds (Stockholm Resilience Centre) in other words the capacity of a system to absorb a shock and continue to function in the same way (Walker 2012). The concepts of resilience come out of ecological theory and many aspects can be applied to the management of agricultural and farming systems

4 What are stresses, shocks.& crises in agricultural systems? Stresses In season dry period Low soil fertility Parasitic loads High debt:equity ratio Low commodity prices Shocks Severe drought or flood Severe erosion event New pest/disease outbreak Rapid increase in credit costs Market/infrastructure collapse

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6 AFP: Tony Karumba

7 Sydney Morning Herald, 25 Se

8 Making agricultural systems more resilient: Knowledge of the system (prediction of stresses) Building capacity in people understand their systems But thinking about resilience must also consider: Carbon constrained futures Climate change Large socio-economic changes (age, gender, urbanisation) Adaptation? Transformational Change?

9 At Tropentag 2012 we will talk of resilience at a range of scales: Markets Community, watershed, region Markets Field, flock, forest Microbe-plant Farm, household, livelihood

10 At Tropentag 2012 we will talk of resilience across a range of systems Biological Social Economic The challenge to us as systems scientists in applied development is to integrate and communicate often complex knowledge and help to devise systems of management and policies across scales and disciplines.

11 Integrating knowledge means we need new tools and approaches: Methodologies (participatory, model based analysis & prediction, ) Communication and extension strategies appropriate to the message and scale. Project and research team design Funding strategies (long term, consortium, fund partners, applied research)

12 As highlighted by The Montpellier Panel: Development at Scale is a key aspect of building resilience in agricultural systems of the developing world is going beyond small islands of success This aspect needs to be at the forefront of our discussions

13 Tropentag 2012 will address these issues via: Invited and world renowned keynote speakers Dr. Achim Dobermann IRRI, The Philippines Dr. Deborah Bossio CIAT Nairobi, Kenya Prof. Rodomiro Ortiz, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences Keynote speakers for concurrent sessions Dr. Peter Carberry CSIRO Australia Dr. Eduardo Somarriba CATIE, Costa Rica Dr. Mario Younan - Veterinaires sans Frontieres, Nairobi Prof. Ismail Cakmak, Sabanci University, Turkey Dr. Luis Pocasangre, EARTH institute, Costa Rica Dr. Loes Wittevenn, Van Hall Larenstein Uni of App. Sc. NL Synopsis and outlook: Dr. Detlef Hanne, KfW, Germany

14 Tropentag 2012 will address these issues via: 100+ oral presentations in 19 sessions 360 poster presentations special session to commemorate the International Center for Tropical Agriculture s (CIAT) 45th anniversary

15 Tropentag 2012 Resilience of Agricultural Systems Anthony Whitbread Against Crises Christian Lambertz Andreas Bürkert (Witzenhausen) Esther Fichtler Christian Hülsebusch (DITSL Witzenhausen) Christoph Kleinn Eva Schlecht (Witzenhausen/Göttingen) Claus-Peter Czerny Heike Francoli Birgitt Bode Ute Ronsöhr Student helpers Eric Tielkes (DITSL - Witzenhausen) Student reporters

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