SERDANG, 14 Feb – The Office of Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Industry & Community Relations), Institute of Tropical Forestry and Forest Products (INTROP), Institute of Agricultural and Food Policy Studies, and Institute of Tropical Agriculture and Food Security (ITAFoS) have co-organized a Seminar on “Sustainable Development in Agriculture and Forestry” to 42 delegates from The Institute of Higher Studies for Science and Technology (IHEST), France.

The seminar was in conjunction to the one week case study visit to Singapore and Malaysia as part of their National Training Course. The visit to these countries was aimed to make them discover environments that are unfamiliar to them. It is believed to help them as the senior executives, scientists, industrial entrepreneurs, elected officials and opinion leaders to understand the myriad ways in which the scientific, educational, cultural, social, economic, and political spheres interact.

“We are deeply honoured to host this seminar and this is the largest group of French delegates to UPM by far. We hope you will benefit from the seminar today and bridging the gap between the two countries through academia-industry collaborations” said Prof. Dato’ Dr -Ing. Ir. Renuganth Varatharajoo during his welcoming speech.

UPM was selected as one of their focal point in Malaysia to discuss issues regarding sustainable agriculture and forestry. The seminar focused on the development journey of the oil palm industry in Malaysia and its achievements and challenges. Prof. Dr Zulkifli Idrus, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovations) presented UPM’s journey and achievements in research and development activities. Dr Jean Marc Roda, presented on a topic of Geopolitics on Forestry, Agribusiness and Food security. Dr Marcel Djama, presented on a topic of Palm oil Achievements and Challenges: Perspectives from Malaysia. Both Dr Roda and Djama are scientists from CIRAD, France, who are the research fellow at UPM. The delegates were actively participating in debating the issues, as currently there is a tension between European countries towards oil palm development.

The delegates were divided into three groups to visit the respective institutes. They had the opportunity to meet and interact with the students and researchers who are involved in various research on the oil palm.

Date of Input: 28/02/2019 | Updated: 28/02/2019 | norfaryanti