Pepper News

Members of the IPC Committee on Research and Development met in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, Indonesia, during 14th - 15th March 2016. This was the 5th Meeting of the IPC Committee on R&D since the committee was reactivated in 2012. The 5th Meeting was hosted by the IPC and jointly organized by the IPC and Office of Estate Crops of East Kalimantan Province, Indonesia.

The meeting was attended by Mr. WDL Gunaratne, Executive Director as well as the members of the IPC Committee on R&D namely Dr. M. Anandaraj of India, Dr. Dyah Manohara of Indonesia, Mr. Chen Yi Shang of Malaysia, Dr. Ananda Subasinghe of Sri Lanka, Prof. Bui Chi Buu of Vietnam, Mrs. Etnawati, Head of Estate Crops Office of East Kalimantan Province and Mr. Bambang Purnowo of Ministry of Trade, representing the Liaison Officer of Republic of Indonesia to IPC, Head of BALITTRO (Indonesia Spice Research Institutes for Spices and Medicinal Crops), Dr. Agus Wahyudi and officials from Estate Crops Office of the districts of Kutai Kartanegara, East Kutai and Berau also participated at the meeting.

As a continuation of the works of IPC Committee on R&D i.e. in developing a set of guideline books for pepper farmers /producers and as a tool reference for the Pepepr producers, agricultural officers, scientists etc., the Committee on R&D, in the year 2015 has developed a guideline book on Production of Quality Pepper Planting Material. The book was published in Q3 of 2015 and at the 43rd Session of IPC held in India during November 2015 the newly developed book on Production of Quality Pepper Planting Material was launched and made available at the IPC Secretariat.

This year, the IPC is scheduled to finalize and publish the revised Pepper Production Guide to include the latest information, new technology and more illustrations from the IPC member countries. Draft of the revised book has been developed and the 5th Meeting of the Committee on R&D has discussed in detail to come up with the finalized document for publishing during 2016.

One of the objectives of the International Pepper Community is to coordinate and stimulate research on technical and economic aspects of production, including research on diseases affecting the pepper plants, research and development of disease-resistant and high yielding varieties. In line with this objective and to further strengthen the Community, the IPC proposal to constitute a Committee on R&D was placed for consideration in the 39th Session of IPC, which was approved to reactivate the Committee on R&D.

The IPC Committee on R&D objective is to study and identify problems faced by the member countries pertaining to production / productivity, processing, product development / value addition and post-harvest processing and propose its solutions.

Mr. Bambang representing the Liaison Officer of R.I. to IPC

Dr. M. Anandaraj, Chairman of IPC Committee on R&D

Executive Director of IPC handed over a set of books on Pepper (in Bahasa)
to Mrs. Etnawati, Head of Estate Crops Office of East Kalimantan Province.