Towards understanding the basic tools and methods that are necessary to prepare, review and develop scientifically sound and technically defensible pest risk analyses and increasing countries' capacity to conduct Pest Risk Analysis (PRA), the Indonesian Biotechnology Information Center (IndoBIC) organized a three-day training course on Plant Pest Risk Analysis on 19 – 21 November 2013 at Balai Uji Terap Teknik dan Metode Karantina Pertanian (BUTTMKP), Bekasi, Indonesia.

Held in collaboration with Croplife Asia, CABI and the ASEAN Secretariat, the training was attended by 17 participants from Departments of Agriculture and private companies in   Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Philippines, Lao-PDR, Myanmar and Brunei Darussalam.

During the opening program, the participants were welcomed by Ms. Banun Harpini,  Director General of the Indonesian Agricultural Quarantine Agency (IAQA). In her opening remarks, she emphasized that Pest Risk Analysis is an important tool to open the gate of trade of plant and product including seeds from one country to other countries that should be had by the host country. Without having a precise tool, it will be difficult to protect the country from invasive pests and diseases.

Two resource persons from CABI South East Asia, namely: Dr. Soetikno and Dr. Lum Keng Yeang shared their experiences on conducting the pest risk analysis. Particular topics covered during the course include: Overview of pest risk analyses; Pest categorization; Assessing probability of entry; Probability of establishment; Assessing probability of spread; Assessment of consequences; Conclusion of risk assessment; and Risk management overview and risk mitigation.

After the training, the participants  are expected to be able to identify several types of pest in their respective countries and formulate risk estimation matrix of the identified pests.