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Organic resources play a critical role in both short-term nutrient availability and longer-term maintenance of soil organic matter in most smaller holder farming systems in the tropics. Despite this importance, there is little predictive understanding for the management of organic inputs in tropical agroecosystems. In this paper, an organic resource database (ORD) is introduced that contains information on organic resource quality parameters including macronutrient, lignin and polyphenol contents of fresh leaves, litter, stems and/or roots from almost 300 species found in tropical agroecosystems. Data on the soil and climate from where the material was collected are also included, as are decomposition and nutrient release rates of many of the organic inputs. Examples of uses of ORD are provided in the paper: (1) nutrient contents (including median values and ranges) and other resource quality parameters of farmyard …