Required in stage
Optional in stage
Second term
Both terms
Not organised
This year
Next year
Alternating years
External
Prerequisites
Identical coursesIntegrated Project Tropical Agro- and Ecosystems (B-KUL-I0U81A)
English
65 
First term
Cannot be taken as part of an examination contractCannot be taken as part of a credit contract
Diels Jan (coordinator) | Diels Jan | Everaert Maarten | Gobin Anne | Maertens Miet | Muys Bart | Vanderschuren Hervé | LessMoreAims
This course can only be taken by students from the Master of Bioscience Engineering: Agro- and Ecosystems Engineering.
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- To learn how to integrate and apply knowledge on agro- and ecosystems in the tropics, biodiversity, tropical soils and agricultural economics to characterize (sub)tropical agro- and ecosystems and better understand constraints and options for natural resources management.
- To be trained in field methods, diagnostic tools and survey methods.
- To deepen understanding of theoretical concepts acquired in the courses of the first phase.
- To obtain an understanding of the bio-physical and socio-economic context of agro- and ecosystems in the (sub)tropics.
- To obtain experience with working in multidisciplinary and multicultural teams.
Previous knowledge
The field course is open to students who have followed or are following at least 2 out of the following courses: 'Agricultural Economics and Development in an International Perspective', 'Global Soil and Land Resources Management', 'Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services', and ‘Agro-Systems’
Order of Enrolment
Mixed prerequisite:
You may only take this course if you comply with the prerequisites. Prerequisites can be strict or flexible, or can imply simultaneity. A degree level can be also be a prerequisite.
Explanation:
STRICT: You may only take this course if you have passed or applied tolerance for the courses for which this condition is set.
FLEXIBLE: You may only take this course if you have previously taken the courses for which this condition is set.
SIMULTANEOUS: You may only take this course if you also take the courses for which this condition is set (or have taken them previously).
DEGREE: You may only take this course if you have obtained this degree level.
(SIMULTANEOUS( I0U86A ) AND SIMULTANEOUS( I0U37A ) ) OR
(SIMULTANEOUS( I0U86A ) AND SIMULTANEOUS( I0Q23B ) ) OR (SIMULTANEOUS( I0U86A ) AND SIMULTANEOUS( I0I08A ) ) OR (SIMULTANEOUS( I0U86A ) AND SIMULTANEOUS( I0V48A ) ) OR
(SIMULTANEOUS( I0U37A ) AND SIMULTANEOUS( I0Q23B ) ) OR (SIMULTANEOUS( I0U37A ) AND SIMULTANEOUS( I0I08A ) ) OR
(SIMULTANEOUS( I0U37A ) AND SIMULTANEOUS( I0V48A ) ) OR (SIMULTANEOUS( I0Q23B ) AND SIMULTANEOUS( I0I08A ) ) OR
(SIMULTANEOUS( I0Q23B ) AND SIMULTANEOUS( I0V48A ) ) OR
(SIMULTANEOUS( I0I08A ) AND SIMULTANEOUS( I0V48A ) )
The codes of the course units mentioned above correspond to the following course descriptions:
I0U86A : Agro-Systems
I0U37A : Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services
I0U86A : Agro-Systems
I0Q23B : Agricultural Economics and Development in an International Perspective
I0U86A : Agro-Systems
I0I08A : Global Soil and Land Resources Management
I0U86A : Agro-Systems
I0V48A : Global Soil Resources Management (No longer offered this academic year)
I0U37A : Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services
I0Q23B : Agricultural Economics and Development in an International Perspective
I0U37A : Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services
I0I08A : Global Soil and Land Resources Management
I0U37A : Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services
I0V48A : Global Soil Resources Management (No longer offered this academic year)
I0Q23B : Agricultural Economics and Development in an International Perspective
I0I08A : Global Soil and Land Resources Management
I0Q23B : Agricultural Economics and Development in an International Perspective
I0V48A : Global Soil Resources Management (No longer offered this academic year)
I0I08A : Global Soil and Land Resources Management
I0V48A : Global Soil Resources Management (No longer offered this academic year)
Identical courses
This course is identical to the following courses:
I0S36A : Integrated Project Tropical Production Systems (No longer offered this academic year)
Is included in these courses of study
Activities
5 ects. Integrated Project Tropical Agro- and Ecosystems (B-KUL-I0U81a)
EnglishFormat: Assignment65 First termDiels Jan | Everaert Maarten | Gobin Anne | Maertens Miet | Muys Bart | Vanderschuren Hervé | LessMoreContent
Types and characteristics of Agro- and Ecosystems in relation to soils, climate, and farm characteristics.
Field methods, diagnostic tools and survey methods for the characterization of production systems, soils, production constraints, resource flows (at farm level), and goals, resources and constraints of farmers.
For more information, including financial aspects, see 'Format: more information'. An information session is scheduled in the first week of the academic year (see schedule).
Course material
Manuals, background documents and background data provided on Toledo.
Format: more information
The 2024-2025 edition will consist of a 2-week field course organized from 2 November (Departure) to 17 November 2024 (arrival in Brussels) at the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology (JOOUST), Bondo, Kenya and in a rural area in Western Kenya (Kisumu and Homabay counties). The course will be jointly organized with JOOUST, the University of Eldoret (UoE), the Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH-Zürich) with the participation of students and professors from JOOUST, UoE, ETH-Zürich, and KU Leuven.
The course will be organized as follows:
- Hands-on training on the use of field methods, diagnostic tools and survey methods (already introduced beforehand in workshops in Leuven and in other universities).
- Teams of 6-7 students (mixed teams from 4 universities) will be assigned to one agro-ecosystem in the area and collect the necessary information in the field over several days to describe the system in terms of cropping system and production techniques used, productivity, soil and climatic constraints, biodiversity, resource management. Attention is also paid to household food security and marketing aspects.
- Teams analyse their field data and prepare a team report and/or presentation.Teams present their results to all participants.
To fully benefit from the field course, students are expected to prepare for it by attending the training workshops in Leuven, by studying the documentation on the methods and the information available about the study area, and by making a work plan in teams of 6-7 students (mixed teams from 4 universities). This will involve team meetings by MS Teams or other means in October. This preparation is guided by workshops in Leuven (and UoE, ETH-Zürich and JOOUST) in September-October. Data, reports, and manuals will be available through Toledo.
For practical reasons, the maximum number of students that can subscribe to this field course is 20 students from KU Leuven, in addition to students from JOOUST, UoE and ETH-Zürich. At KU Leuven, only students from the Master of Bioscience Engineering: Agro- and Ecosystems Engineering can participate.
Participating students have to pay for the costs of their participation in the field course (air ticket, travel insurance, vaccinations, visa, accommodation and meals), which are estimated at €1300 per student. Information about this will be given at the beginning of the academic year (information session).
We applied for a subsidy for student group travel from the KU Leuven Interfaculty Council for Global Development (ICGD). The application was successful, so this will provide a subsidy of €400 per student to all participating students from KU Leuven. The Faculty of Bioscience Engineering provides a subsidy as well if you have not yet received a subsidy from the faculty, but the faculty will subtract the IRO subsidy from the subsidy the faculty provides: see www.biw.kuleuven.be/en/.
Evaluation
Evaluation: Integrated Project Tropical Agro- and Ecosystems (B-KUL-I2U81a)
Explanation
The evaluation will be based on the quality of the workplan finalized at the start of the field course and a team presentation made at the end of the field course, and on an assessment of the contribution of each student to the team work and group discussions.
So the following is required from each student team:
• Team workplan drafted during the preparation for the field course (and improved during the first day of the field course).
• Team presentation made at the end of the field course (last day)
KU Leuven students who cannot contribute to the drafting of the workplan during the preparation period before the start of the field course (because of stay abroad for master thesis) will be required to write and submit a report after the field course.
Information about retaking exams
No 2nd examination opportunity.