Technology Must be Disseminated to Farmers
Dr. Ir. Sugianta from the Department of Agronomy and Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, Bogor Agricultural University (IPB) IPB says that the results of research by IPB researchers should be promoted and disseminated to the public, especially farmers. "It is hoped that the technology generated by IPB technology can improve the welfare and living standard of farmers," said Dr. Sugianta on the Farmer Field Day, Friday (2 / 10) at the Field Laboratory of Department of Agriculture, Horticulture and Agricultural Engineering, Leuwikopo Darmaga, Bogor.
In relation to the dissemination efforts, four departments in IPB namely Agronomy Horticulture, Agricultural Engineering, Management and Science and Technology of Livestock Production holds a series of Farmer Meeting Day (Field Day) entitled “Demonstration of Environmentally Friendly Technology and Superior Products for the Improvement of Nation’s Competitiveness on the 1st – 3rd of October.
This farmer field day is the first held by IPB, but such events have been done several times by the Department of Agronomy and Horticulture. "The purpose of this activity is to disseminate technology from IPB to the community and make the farmers aware of the importance of environmentally friendly technology for sustainable agricultural development. Various activities include: technological demonstration, technological exhibition by 40 organizations, product demonstration, scientific work competitions for high school students, festival of agricultural products, farmers meeting, interactive workshop and seminars on environmentally-friendly technology to raise agricultural competitiveness, and competition of agricultural product arts and promotion," said Dr. Sugianta, who is also the chairman of the committee. The interactive workshop invites the Minister of Agriculture, Mr. Suswono. On the field day, IPB also presents superior agricultural products from 14 IPB-assisted villages around the campus. These products include herbal medicines from family’s’ medicinal plants, syrups, sweetened nutmeg, cassava crackers, sweet potato flour, lemeng rice (cooked in bamboo), salted eggs, and other. Theses are also attended by farmers from Java and Sumatra.
Dr. Sugianta added, our farmers have not currently applied the friendly technology. For example, they use fertilizers and pesticides excessively. With these activities it is expected that they would adopt healthier practices of farming. In the event, IPB is also going to release 14 excellent varieties resulting from IPB researchers’ work, and hold a soft launching of Farmer Market, which sells vegetables and fruits from the IPB’s University Farm. The Farmer Field Day is part of the working programs in the Institution-Based Competition Grants
The Chairman of PHKI IPB, Prof. Dr.Ir.Slamet Susanto said the PHKI programs implemented in the period of 2008-2010 reached 75 %. "The constraint in the program implementation is that the interest of applicants in the field of agriculture and international scientific publications are not optimal yet," he said. Currently, PHKI is implementing the efforts in international standardization.
Rector of IPB, Prof.Dr.Ir.Herry Suhardiyanto, M. Sc in particular expressed his happiness for the implementation of Farmer Field Day. Moreover, this activity involves some 20 institutions in IPB. It is expected that in the future the togetherness of IPB would increasingly strong. "We’ve got a tough challenge concerning the image of agriculture. Let us take the positive image of agriculture; through the Field Day like this we can meet with farmers so that we can interact, socialize works, products and technology that we have," Rector requested. After opening the event, Rector and other officials of IPB visited the stands of agricultural products and technology. (mtd)
