IASS to Form International Agriculture Network

The symposium highlighted various aspects such as problems and challenges related to agriculture, apart from the effort to produce entrepreneurs in agriculture.

A number of 200 students from five international and local universities participated in the first ever held symposium co-hosted by Students Association of Faculty of Agriculture, (Permatani) and Faculty of Agriculture on the 4th till 13th January 2009 with the collaboration from Ministry of Higher Education, Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-based Industry, the International Agriculture Students Association and Tabung Haji Plantations Berhad.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Agro-based Industry, Datuk Rohani Abdul Karim said in her speech that the agro-based food sector is highly potential due to global food crisis.

“The necessity will be determined by the entrepreneurs themselves particularly in ensuring sufficient supply and the cost aptness,” she said.

Meanwhile, the IASS Asian representative, Ibnu Sina Jaelani, hailed from Indonesia expressed hopes of participating in the upcoming symposium and wished to see more involvement from universities of ASEAN countries as the majority participation came from international organizations of European universities.

A Japanese student from Niigata University namely Mitsue Sakamaki, 25, informed the media that the symposium has broadened his experience on the latest agriculture techniques that directed towards a sustainable agriculture hoping to provide sufficient food supply in the country.

Apart from UPM, the 10-days symposium had received participants from Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kasetsart University, Thailand; Niigata University, Japan and University of Agriculture Bogor, Indonesia.

Among the activities carried out during the symposium was a series of study tour to agriculture areas and places of interest around Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Selangor.

The closing ceremony of the symposium wrapped up with a dinner gathering attended by Deputy Minister of Ministry of Higher Education, Datuk Idris Haron at the Palm Garden, Putrajaya.

Prepared by Media Section, Corporate Communication Division, UPM.