Public Relations USU—The Faculty of Agriculture, Universitas Sumatera Utara (USU), has officially partnered with the Center de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomyque pour le Développement (CIRAD). This was stated in the signing of a memorandum of understanding in the Academic Senate Room of the USU GBPA on Tuesday (11/15/2022).

The partnership is called the TALENT project, which aims to renovate the training system for managers of annual plantation crops.

Vice Rector III for Research, Community Service, and Cooperation of USU, Prof. Dr. Poppy Anjelisa Zaitun Hasibuan, S.Si., M.Si., Apt explained that this project is a training on the renovation of sustainable plantation landscape systems in Southeast Asia which is planned to be valid from the beginning of this year until the end of 2026.

"This program is partly supported by a grant from the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) to CIRAD, and the MoU itself is valid from January 1, 2022 to December 31, 2026," explained Prof. Poppy.

Vice Rector III of USU hopes that this collaboration will increase the quantity and quality of superior human resources, opening up a wider space to support knowledge in the field of agricultural science and benefit the community.

"The intense interaction and communication established through this program are also expected to develop into academic collaborations that are beneficial to the community, save the environment and have global quality," he added.

On the same occasion, the Summer Course with the theme "Inclusive and Sustainable Palm Oil Industry" opened the TALENT project. CSSPO initiated the summer course, which involved Indonesian, Thai, and Australian students, and was supported by CIRAD and the University of Tasmania.

Chairman of the Tent Program Ir. Diana Chalil, M.Sc., Ph.D., this summer course will last for five days. The first two days will cover six topics related to the System Ability of palm oil, and the third day will be spent in the field, such as oil palm plantations in Bukit Lawang, Tangkahan, and others.

"We chose palm oil because North Sumatra is the center of palm oil. Then, we spent three days in the field: one day, we were at MES PKS, which was very good, especially in terms of liberty management. Then we went to Bukit Lawang because palm oil is often associated with orangutans. Then we went to Tangkahan; there are also elephants there, so we will see that these things are still organized, and in Bukit Lawang, we also invited them to plant trees," said Ir. Diana.

Author: Bambang Riyanto - Public Relations

Interviewee: Prof. Dr. Poppy Anjelisa Zaitun Hasibuan, S.Si., M.Si., Apt - Vice Rector III USU

Photographer: Humas - Humas