Since 1996, the Centres for Agriculture in the Tropics and Subtropics of the Universities of Hohenheim and Göttingen and of Berlin's Humboldt University have organised a conference, the ''Tropentag'', once a year to present and discuss recent findings in research on agriculture and rural development. Other universities, like Kassel-Witzenhausen, have joined in, and the number of participants, papers and posters presented has more than doubled. Over 600 scientists and a number of practitioners from 72 countries gathered in Kassel-Witzenhausen in October at the 2007 Tropentag -  ''Utilization of diversity in land use systems: Sustainable and organic approaches to meet human needs''. More than 100 scientists came from developing countries, invited by Deutscher Akademischer Austausch dienst (DAAD), GTZ and InWEnt.

Hartmut Gast, InWEnt