The Department of Agricultural Socio-Economics, UGM Faculty of Agriculture, held the 1st International Conference on Sustainable Agricultural Socio-Economics, Agribusiness, and Rural Development (ICSASARD) 2021 on Wednesday (22/9).
This conference carries the theme “Sustainable Agriculture, Agribusiness, and Rural Development in the Era of Industrial Revolution 4.0” and presents speakers from various countries worldwide.
“We appreciate the leading speakers from various parts of the world who came to share knowledge and experiences related to socio-economic issues of sustainable agriculture, agribusiness, and rural area development,” said Prof. Irham as Chair of ISCASARD 2021.
ISCASARD 2021 is the first conference organized by the Ministry of Agricultural Socio-Economic Affairs held entirely online.
This conference consists of plenary sessions and parallel sessions that discuss seven sub-themes. The sub-themes are Agricultural Management, Agriculture and Rural Development, Sustainable Agriculture and Agribusiness, Agricultural Finance and Cooperatives, Agribusiness and Agroindustry, Human Resource Development, and ICT for Agriculture Development.
“We hope this conference can broaden our horizons in this phase of disruption. The main goal is to produce national and international frameworks that support new opportunities and collaborations in the future,” said Irham.
UGM Vice Chancellor for Research and Community Service, Dr. Ika Dewi Ana, revealed that the theme discussed at this conference is crucial.
The era of the industrial revolution 4.0 entered a new phase with the Covid-19 pandemic, where technology became an inseparable part of all sectors of life, including agriculture. Agriculture, according to her, has become a central sector amid a pandemic and the key to economic recovery.
“Therefore, rural areas need to be empowered and developed to familiarize the community with technology. In this way, agricultural management can pay attention to the ecology of the surrounding environment,” said Ika.
She hopes that ISCASARD 2021 can become a forum for scientific actors to share knowledge and generate ideas related to this issue which is also one of UGM’s main concerns.
This conference presents Prof. Sarah Turner, lecturer at the Department of Geography, McGill University Montreal Canada, as the keynote speaker.
In addition, the invited speakers were Assoc. Prof. Dr. Elske van de Fliert from The University of Queensland Australia, Prof. Dr. Mad Nasir Shamsudin from University Putra Malaysia, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Jangkung Handoyo Mulyo from UGM, and Prof. Dr. Justus Wesseler from Wageningen University and Research Center Netherlands.
In the first session, Sarah Turner presented “Ethnic Minority Livelihoods, Socio-Economic Change, and Rural Development in the Southeast Asia Massif.”
