Among the experts participated at the Meeting were Dr. M. Anandaraj of India, Dr. Agus Wahyudi and Dr. Dyah Manohara of Indonesia, Mr. Yap Chin Ann of Malaysia, Dr. Ananda Subasinghe of Sri Lanka and Prof. Bui Chi Buu of Vietnam. Expert from Brazil Dr. Austrelino of EMBRAPA was unable to attend the meeting at this time but his office is getting in touch with the IPC Secretariat in providing the inputs from Brazil for developing the guidelines.
Mr. Deny Kurnia, Alternate Liasion Officer of RI to IPC addressing the Meeting
Mr. Deny Kurnia, Director of APEC and other International Organizations Cooperation of the Trade Ministry, who is also alternate Liaison Officer of the Government of Indonesia also attended the first day meeting and assured the support from his office to the initiative undertaken by the IPC and expert members in developing the best practices for producing quality pepper planting materials. He further stated that this effort is very important to support the pepper producers in enhancing the productivity of their pepper cultivations and improve the livelihood of millions of pepper farmers in the member countries. He added that once the guidelines is disseminated and adopted at the farm level, this will help and protect millions of pepper small holders to sustain the pepper sector in the future.
Mr. WDL Gunaratne, the Executive Director of IPC informed about the common problem faced by the pepper producers in the member countries including pests and diseases like Foot rot, Viral diseases, Fusarium wilt, low productivity of the pepper etc. Those issues are being addressed and discussed in details by the expert members to arrive at the drawing up guidelines for production of quality pepper planting materials.
Mr. WDL Gunratne delivering his welcome address
Mr Gunaratne further said that he is quite optimistic that the IPC will be able to finalize and publish the Guidelines for Production of Quality Pepper Planting Materials which would be very helpful for the pepper producers in the IPC member countries in improving the production and productivity of their pepper plantations through the adoption of the guide.
