Technical Assistance I
For Harmoko and Astika Tresnawati, the training on Pesticide Residue Proficiency Testing facilitated by ARISE+ Indonesia, 15-25 November 2022, was eye-opening. They said that the knowledge and skills they obtained during the training have made them more resourceful in overcoming challenges they faced while implementing their tasks.
As the Technical Coordinator of the Chemistry and Microbiology Testing Laboratory at the Center for Quality Testing of Goods (BPMB) under the Directorate of Standardization and Quality Control, the Ministry of Trade, Harmoko is responsible for overseeing the implementation of laboratory activities to ensure the correctness and accuracy of the methods and test results. However, analysing complex matrix samples of Indonesian export products, such as coffee beans, pepper, tea, tobacco, and cinnamon, that are often rejected by the importing countries due to contaminants and pesticide residue, could be challenging.
"The training was very beneficial in strengthening our theory comprehension and practical skills to solve testing and analysis challenges," Harmoko said.
Astika, the Quality Assurance Officer at the Directorate of Standardization and Quality Control, the Ministry of Trade, shared a similar sentiment. She praised the passionate training delivery by Professor Amadeo Rodriguez Fernández-Alba, the Head of the European Reference Laboratory for Pesticides Residues in Fruits and Vegetables, who is generous with his knowledge and ensures all training participants understand all the materials.
"We received so many new insights and knowledge to process the data, examine the data quality to ensure the data acceptance in Indonesia's export destination countries," Astika said.
The Director of Standardization and Quality Control, the Ministry of Trade, Rr. Dyah Palupi extended her appreciation and commended Prof Amadeo's efforts, who went the extra mile to support the capacity enhancement of BPMB as the Indonesian National Reference Laboratory for pesticide testing in fruits and vegetables. In her speech, she underscored the importance of the training for BPMB since as the National Reference Laboratory, BPMB is responsible for managing 24 laboratories within the network of the Directorate of Standardization and Quality Control, to have equal competencies in doing the analysis. The training was also enthusiastically participated online by 70 laboratory technicians and analysts within the directorate's network.
"We thank ARISE+ Indonesia and Prof Amadeo for the tremendous support. Prof Amadeo's recommendation for our Proficiency Testing (PT) Program will be considered valuable input to improve the quality of our PT results," Ms Dyah said. She also encouraged her team to give total mind and energy to solve all the challenges with the improved capacities to advance BPMB as the National Reference Laboratory.
