SEAMEO BIOTROP conducted an online training on Geodatabase Management of Monitoring and Diagnostic Application System for Plant Pests and Diseases on 10-13 August 2020. This activity was intended to improve the skills and knowledge of teachers participating in the SMARTS BE program in managing spatial and non-spatial data for the purposes of monitoring, reporting and diagnosing plant pests and diseases, as well as optimizing the use of systems that have been developed by the Center. A total of 48 teachers from various vocational schools participating in BIOTROP’s SMARTS-BE program joined this activity.

Dr Irdika Mansur, BIOTROP Director, in his opening remarks, said that the SMARTS-BE program is an effort to intensify agricultural space (land), so that spatial and non-spatial based data and information related to land and plants need to be monitored and processed into useful information. This is aimed at optimizing production while still applying the principles of sustainable agriculture.

"BIOTROP has developed a geolocation-based monitoring and diagnosis system for plant pests and diseases. The application was developed using an Android-based smartphone platform and a web-GIS dashboard to facilitate monitoring and reporting on the implementation of SMARTS BE activities in each program participating school," said Dr Irdika. In line with the dynamic principles of information and feedback conveyed by teachers, partners in charge and implementers in each school, he continued, a diagnostic system was developed as a follow-up to reporting and monitoring of geolocation-based plants. This system can assist implementers in taking care and handling of plant pests and diseases so that plants thrive and provide optimal results.

In this activity, the Centre presented its experts as the resource persons, namely Dr Supriyanto, Harry Imantho, MSc, Slamet Widodo Sugiarto, SSi, and Oxa Aspera Endiviana, ST. They delivered materials consisting of 1) Geospatial concepts and applications in agriculture; 2) Surveying, data acquisition and crop geotagging techniques; 3) Geodatabase making; 4) Spatial analysis for monitoring and identification of pests and plant diseases; 5) Standard Operating Procedures for implementing a geolocation-based plant diagnostic system; and 6) The use of a geolocation-based plant diagnostic system application. (zsp)