Tentative Class Schedule Fall 2007

Introduction to Tropics - Beginner's Guide - CGIAR Web Sites (Sep. 4)
Climate Classification - dry, semi-arid, sub-humid and humid tropics (Sep. 6)
Field Trip - Tropical Crops in Massachusetts (Sep. 11)
Climatic Factors - temperature, rainfall, humidity, light, desertification, drought, famine (Sep. 13)
Plant responses to water stress and drought, flooding, heat, and humidity (Sep. 18)
Green Revolution: A failure or a success? - FAO perspective (Sep. 20)
Perspectives on - (agriculture & food security; food & population growth) (Sep. 25)
Population, socio-economics, global issues - FAO 2004 Food InSecurity (Sep. 27)
Tropical Soils (tropical soils, acid soils, green manures) (Oct. 2)
 FIRST-TERM EXAM (Oct. 4)
No Class Monday Schedule (Oct. 9)
World Food Crops and Crop Selection - Plants for Tropical Subsistence Farms (Oct. 11)
International research organizations: Class Presentation (Oct. 16)
Major food crops - Cereals (rice) (Oct. 18)
Major food crops - Cereals (maize, sorghum, pearl and finger millet) (Oct. 23)
Major food crops - legumes (bean, chickpea, cowpea, groundnut, pigeonpea, soybean) and oil seeds (Oct. 25)
Major food crops - roots and tubers (cassava, cassava2, sweet potato, taro, yam) (Oct. 30)
Major food crops - (vegetables, moringa tree) (Nov. 1)
Major food crops - fruits (banana, coconut and breadfruit) (Nov. 6)
Other crops - forages (forages-ECHO, tropical forages) (Nov. 8)
Cropping Systems - Definitions (Nov. 13)
Cropping Systems - multiple cropping and polyculture (Nov. 15)
SECOND-TERM EXAM (Nov. 20)
Thanksgiving Recess (Nov. 22)
Green Manure/Cover Crops (Nov. 27)
Dryland/Rainfed agriculture - Food production: the critical role of water (Nov. 29)
Cropping Systems - Agro-forestry; alley cropping - Agroforestry Principles, Agroforestry Application (Dec. 4)
 Strategies and technologies for dryland crop production - Dryland Farming(Dec. 6)
Cropping Systems - Review (Dec. 11)
Class Project Presentation (Dec. 13)

Evaluation:

Class participation

5%
Short papers and class presentations

30%

Class project

5%
Term exams (2)
40%

Final exam - Dec. 17, 2007

20%

Textbook: Tropical and Sub-Tropical Foods, by Susan Mayhew and Anne Penny, Macmillan Education Ltd.
Available from the ECHO Bookstore