IWMI at Tropentag conference in Vienna, Austria

A team of IWMI researcherstook part in the Conference on Tropical and Subtropical Agricultural and Natural Resource Management (TROPENTAG) in Vienna, Austria, on September 19-21. The Tropentag is a development-oriented and interdisciplinary conference gathering researchers, extension workers, decision makers, politicians and practitioners in the field of tropical agriculture, including representatives from various CGIAR centres. More than 700 participants from around the world joined the event this year.

Josiane Nikiema , Sub Theme Leader – Water Quality and Safe Water Reuse at IWMI West Africa, delivered a keynote presentation on “Resource competition, degradation and recovery in urbanizing landscapes”, focusing on waste-based fertilizer production. During the subsequent panel discussion in the main auditorium, delegates were particularly interested in product safety and the economic viability of the technology presented. Watch Josiane’s presentation here.

Petra Schmitter , International Researcher – Agricultural Water Management at IWMI East Africa, gave a presentation on “Improving On-Farm Water Management by Introducing Wetting Front Detectors to Small Scale Irrigators in Ethiopia”. She found positive effects on marketable yield for both, over- und under-irrigation. Excess water can help reduce fertilizer needs, labor and fuel. Under-irrigation due to labor constraints can still be managed to achieve higher yields if the right amount of water is provided at the right time (View abstract).

Johannes Paul , Researcher – Integrated Waste Management, and Felix Grau, PhD student, from IWMI-headquarters in Colombo, presented their research on waste-based compost fertilizer in poster sessions. Main points of discussion were to clarify potentials and options for value addition for compost products and methods of testing a safe application within agronomic field trials:

  1. “Fertilizer Derived from Fecal Sludge in Sri Lanka: Analysis of Plant Nutritional Value and Heavy Metal Contamination”

Abstract: http://www.tropentag.de/abstract.php?code=ON3uUM7c

Poster : http://www.tropentag.de/2016/abstracts/posters/287.pdf

  1. “Strength and Disintegration Characteristics of Compost Pellets from Urban Waste in Sri Lanka”

Abstract: http://www.tropentag.de/abstract.php?code=gYCioIdz

Poster : http://www.tropentag.de/2016/abstracts/posters/422.pdf

Katharina Felgenhauer, Public-Private Partnerships expert at (IWMI West Africa) supported a workshop on climate change resilience in shock-prone settings as resource person, discussing options for more resilient food systems based on dryland farming in Turkana, Northern Kenya (View workshop agenda).

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(Photos: Tropentag)

The annual Tropentag is jointly organised by the universities of Berlin, Bonn, Göttingen, Hohenheim, Kassel-Witzenhausen, Hamburg, ZALF e.V., ETH Zurich (Switzerland), 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 Advisory Service on Agricultural Research for Development (BEAF).

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