Plant Protection Department of IPB University Holds the Southeast Asia Plant Protection Conference
For the first time, the Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, IPB University held an international conference entitled "Plant Protection Science for Future Life", Wednesday (8/14) at the IPB International Convention Center, Bogor. The conference was held in response to climate change which has an impact on agricultural pests and diseases.
The Rector of IPB University, Dr. Arif Satria said that plant protection or crop protection activities are very important in relation to maintaining world food availability. "Pest and disease attacks on plants can cause significant yield losses for farmers and pose a threat to global food security," he said.
Nevertheless, with the development of technology 4.0, pest and disease attacks on plants can be anticipated and minimized. Dr. Arif mentioned, by utilizing technology 4.0 such as the Internet of Thing (IoT), artificial intelligence, biotechnology, information technology, and big data, the presence of plant pests and diseases can be overcome quickly and accurately. According to him, one of the keys to facing the development of technology 4.0 in agriculture is collaboration.
"With collaboration, we can create sustainable crop protection programs through smart pest management. In this management system, we can utilize IoT and artificial intelligence technology, to detect and recognize pests and diseases so that later we are able to implement integrated crop protection programs," added Dr. Arif.
Dr. Arif Satria also emphasized that in the current era a different mindset is needed. It means that technological change must also be accompanied by changes in the mindset of human resources. "If it is not accompanied by a change in mindset, we will have difficulty in accepting changes in technology 4.0," he concluded.
Regarding the use of technology for plant protection, the Chairperson of the Organizing Committee, Dr. Ir. Giyanto, M.Si, said that this conference was also as a place to share information on integrated plant pest and disease management carried out in several Asian countries.
A total of 217 participants joined the conference, coming from several countries such as the United States, Malaysia, the Philippines, Austria, Japan, Sudan, and Indonesia. There were at least eight topics discussed in this conference, namely smart pest management, emerging pest and disease, invasive species, biological control and pheromone, policy and social-economic aspects of plant protection, pest, disease and weed management, molecular biology, and modeling and forecasting. (Rosyid/Zul/zsp)
