Universitas Brawijaya (UB) in collaboration with the University Network for Tropical Agriculture (UNTA) held an annual meeting to discuss the impact of climate change on the agricultural sector in the Widyaloka Building, Tuesday (8/8/2023).
The Dean of UB Faculty of Agriculture (FP), Prof. Mangku Purnomo, Ph.D explained that the world’s challenge going forward is climate change, and the current world condition is already global boiling, so that it has an impact on the production of the agricultural sector.
“The challenge ahead for the El Nino climate change is not only global warming but global boiling so that it has an impact on the agricultural sector which causes a decrease in production. In the long term, it can cause the agricultural sector to be damaged and plant growth to be suboptimal,” said Mangku.
Mangku said that the forum discussed how the agricultural sector could become more resilient to climate change.
“We are looking for technology that can engineer plants using engineering genetics so that they are more resistant to various kinds of climates and weather,” he said.
Moreover, another solution can be done through sustainable agriculture by promoting agroforestry.
“In planting empty land areas that have been dry so far, we are pushing them to become forests again,” he said.
Rector of Universitas Brawijaya (UB) Prof. Widodo said UNTA is an association of universities in Taiwan and Indonesia that studies tropical agriculture in terms of technology management and builds collaborations for research and education.
“Collaboration between universities that are members of UNTA aims to mutually strengthen research in the field of tropical agriculture. Collaboration between universities is good in exchange research.
The Faculty of Agriculture, Universitas Brawijaya had the opportunity to host a meeting of UNTA (University Network for Tropical Agriculture) members and an international seminar on tropical agriculture (8-9/8/2023).
UNTA is a network of 28 leading universities in the field of tropical agriculture. The founders of UNTA are Bogor Agricultural Institute, Universitas Brawijaya, Maejo University, MingDao University, Pingtung National University of Science and Technology, Thai Nguyen University, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Universiti Putra Malaysia, and Weihenstephan-Triesdorf University in the field of applied sciences.
UNTA’s office is located at National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, Taiwan. (OKY/UB PR/ Trans. Iir).
