In the midst of Covid-19 pandemic, SEAMEO BIOTROP keeps contributing to the improvement of community skills. One of them was by holding an online training series on Application of Urban Agriculture in Support of Family Food Security on 11 May – 12 June 2020 through webex online system. This activity was aimed to 1) increase participants' understanding of the basic concepts of urban agriculture, 2) share knowledge about several urban agricultural technologies that can be implemented appropriately according to existing conditions, 3) share knowledge related to agricultural technology that can be applied to support food supply for families, and 4) provide an opportunity for participants to practice and develop innovative projects related to urban agriculture.

The series consisted of four main themes, in which each had four sessions with various topics. The first eight sessions were hydroponics and aquaculture which were presented alternately by Ms Riana Hartati, SSi, and Ms Shella Marlinda, MSi, the Centre’s Research Assistants. Ms Riana delivered topics on Introduction to Hydroponics, Hydroponic Technique and Growing Media, How to Start Hydponics, and Maintenance and Harvesting; while Ms Shella shared knowledge on Introduction to Aquaculture Technique I, Introduction to Aquaculture Technique II, Harvesting of Aquaculture Products and Introduction to Feed.

The next four sessions were led by Dr Erina Sulistiani, a plant and seaweed tissue culture expert of the Centre, who delivered topics on Tissue Culture Technique for Plant Seedling Production, Stages of Micropropagation of Plant Seedlings, Facilities for Plant Tissue Culture and Aseptic Technique and Plant Tissue Culture Media. Mr Samsul A. Yani, SSi, the Centre’s Advisor for Product Development Unit, was the resource person for the last four sessions with the topics of Introduction to Edible Mushroom Cultivation, Making F0 and F1 Mushroom Starter, Making F2 and F3 Mushroom Starter and Baglog Maintenance. To complete the training series, the participants have to accomplish a final task by July 2020.

A total of 200 participants joined the training courses. A livestreaming media was also provided via the Centre’s youtube channel (@seameobiotrop) for those who were not able to register to the courses due to limited participant capacity. (zsp)