More than 90 participants were trained in AVRDC – The World Vegetable Center’s grafting technologies in Indonesia recently. Forty-five people attended a training workshop in Kediri, East Java on 21 June 2012, and 53 participated in a workshop in Bedugul, Bali on 26 June 2012. Participants included established nursery operators and workers, farmers, researchers, extension specialists, teachers and students from agricultural vocational high schools, university students and professors.
The workshops focused on grafting tomato scions onto eggplant and tomato rootstocks using AVRDC’s tube splicing technique, which also is applicable for grafting sweet or chili pepper scions onto pepper rootstocks. Grafting with rootstock germplasm that is resistant/tolerant to soil-borne diseases and flooding can provide farmers a means to overcome these constraints. Grafting is easily combined with other pest management approaches to create effective integrated pest management (IPM) systems.
Joko Mariyono inspects a seedling nursery.
AVRDC scientists Greg Luther and Joko Mariyono conducted the training. Greg gave presentations introducing the basics of tomato grafting and highlighting integrated crop management issues related to grafting, while Joko presented success stories of grafting dissemination and adoption in Vietnam and the Philippines. A key part of the workshops was a hands-on participatory exercise in which all trainees had the opportunity to practice grafting and get feedback on their technique. Joko also conducted an evaluation of each workshop.
As a prelude to the workshops, a grafting chamber was constructed at each site the day before each workshop was held. Greg and Joko worked with some of the participants to source local materials and build the chambers, which provide optimum light intensity, humidity and temperature to help the newly grafted seedlings heal.
The training workshops were held as part of the USAID-funded project, “Mobilizing vegetable genetic resources and technologies to enhance household nutrition, income and livelihoods in Indonesia.” The East Java workshop was hosted by the Assessment Institute for Agricultural Technology – East Java and the Bali workshop was hosted by Udayana University. Project partners from the Indonesian Vegetable Research Institute, the Assessment Institute for Agricultural Technology – Bali, FIELD Indonesia Foundation, and the Agricultural Extension Service also attended. Staff from USAID-Washington and USAID-Jakarta attended the workshops and provided motivational support.
