
Attendees of the regional masterclass
21 February 2019 – CABI has helped facilitate and supervise a Crawford Fund-sponsored Regional Master Class in Plant Biosecurity in Salatiga, Indonesia, aimed at building a higher level of expertise across emerging areas of science, policy and agribusiness.
Dr Annamalai Sivapragasam, Regional Director and Plantwise Regional Team Leader, Malaysia, shared his expertise at the Master Class which brought together 25 candidates from Java Island in the archipelago with the aim of building their capacity to deal with plant biosecurity.
Dr Sivapragasam delivered four presentations at the event entitled ‘Biosecurity and Biodiversity: Keys to Promoting Local Food for Food Security and Food Sovereignty’. One concerned biosecurity, food security and food sovereignty, another looked at trade and market access, a third questioned ‘What Happens When Things Go Wrong?’ and a fourth, with Professor Ian Falk and Dr Titi Susilowati, asked ‘Where to Next?’
The Master Classes, delivered in partnership with key agencies including ACIAR, CSIRO, CGIAR Centres, universities and governments, were directed by Professor John Lovett (Founder of the Australian Plant Biosecurity Science Foundation). The event was hosted by Universitas Kristen Satya Wacana (UKSW) Salatiga. Since 1992, around 1,000 people have taken part in more than 50 Master Classes held in 14 countries across the Asia-Pacific, Africa and Australia.
Dr Sivapragasam, said, ‘These Master Classes are a fantastic way of highlighting amongst experts and students the key challenges posed to food security and food insecurity by a range of bio-risks associated with plants.
‘Central to this theme is also the importance of understanding the concepts of trade and market access and how it relates to the risks of biosecurity and the steps we can take to mitigate them.’
The Master Class sessions were run by experienced instructors with each class offering high-quality tuition to early and mid-career researchers within the field and have already trained and are actively working in, to build a higher level of expertise across emerging areas of science, policy and agribusiness.
Other scientists who presented at the Master Classes included Dr Wiske Rotinsulu, Senior Lecturer in Agriculture and Head of International Affairs at Sam Ratulangi University, Indonesia, Professor Ian Falk, formerly of Charles Darwin University, and Dr Eka Martiningsih, Secretary of the Indonesian Biosecurity Foundation.
Additional information
The Crawford Fund also published a blog in relation to the Regional Master Class in Plant Biosecurity ‘The Importance of Plant Biosecurity, February 2019’ written by Agnes Cela Purwani from Semaran, Indonesia.
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