SEAMEO BIOTROP organized a training course on fumigation in the perspective of integrated storage pest management for fifty-one participants coming from various educational, government and research institutions and companies across Indonesia on 8-11 April 2019 at its headquarters in Bogor. The activity was held to educate the participants in preventing and controlling pest infestations in the storage materials such as post-harvest, archives, library documents and museum.

In his opening remarks, BIOTROP’s Director, Dr Irdika Mansur emphasized, “Warehouse pest is a serious threat to commodity deposits, especially food and feed. Without good handling, the presence of these pest insects can cause enormous losses, both quantitatively and qualitatively.” Dr Irdika also said that fumigation is an important component to overcome the problem of warehouse pests.

The training course provided knowledge and practical works on: 1) introduction of stored product insect pests, 2) integrated storage pest management, 3) destructive organisms of wood, archive materials and museum and its management, 4) technique of methyl phosphine fumigation, 5) technique of liquefied phosphine fumigation, 5) technique of sulfuryl fluoride fumigation, and 6) general pests control and their application tools.

Five experts were presented, namely Ms. Sri Widayanti, M.Si, Dr Idham S. Harahap and Ms. Trijanti A. Widinni Asnan, M.Si, from SEAMEO BIOTROP; Mr. Ridwan Alaydrus, MP, from Agricultural Quarantine Agency of Indonesian Ministry of Agriculture; and Mr. Mohamad Rivai from PT Rebio Mega Aranda.

“By joining this activity, we hope that participants will be able to implement the rules of proper fumigation in their respective institutions, so that the management of storage pest will be run more effectively,” said Ms. Sri Widayanti, M.Si, who also became the training coordinator.