[Unpad Media Channel] The research team of Universitas Padjadjaran will build information related to shrimp diseases and the prevention of outbreaks through collaborative research grants from the 2024 Knowledge Partnership Platform Australia-Indonesia (KONEKSI).
The involved professors are Prof. Dr. rer. pol.Hamzah Ritchi (Faculty of Economics and Business), Rora Puspita Sari, S.E., M.Sc., Ph.D. (Faculty of Economics and Business), Alexander Muhammad Akbar Khan, S.Pi., M.Si., Ph.D. (Pangandaran Campus of Unpad), Sunu Widianto, Ph.D. (Faculty of Economics and Business), Robi Andoyo, S.TP., M.Sc., Ph.D. (Faculty of Agroindustrial Technology), Adhi Alfian, MAk., MiM. (Faculty of Economics and Business), Larasati P. M. Sugianto, S.E., BBA., MM. (Faculty of Economics and Business), and Andreas Recki Prasetyo, S.Pt, M.S.M Faculty of Economics and Business).
The research title is “Designing Disease Reporting and Monitoring Systems (DRMS): A Gender-Inclusive Action Design Research to Prevent Disease Outbreaks in Shrimp Farming in Indonesia”.
“We develop the information system about how to implement reporting and monitoring of shrimp diseases,” explained Principal Investigator of the research Prof. Ritchi when being interviewed by Unpad Media Channel.
The research will be occurred for two years, starting from July 2024 until July 2026. It will be conducted in several shrimp farming areas in West Java and various regions across Indonesia.
Aside from reporting shrimp diseases, the system also can monitor shrimp disease outbreaks in the surrounding environment and facilitate the acquisition of knowledge on shrimp farming.
“This system will be a collaborative platform for shrimp farmers and relevant stakeholders, so that they can report potential shrimp diseases in their ponds or surrounding environments, and also monitor if shrimp diseases are spreading in a particular area,” said Rora, the Project Manager of the research.
In the research, the team also aims to see the involvement of women and people with disabilities in the process of bringing added value to the aquaculture sector.
“Our research design considers the concepts inclusivity, gender balance or gender empowerment, and economic inclusion, primarily for the shrimp farmers whose economics is at moderate to lower economic level. If there are farmers with disabilities, we will also include this as a factor that will determine the system design,” said Rora.
As Prof. Ritchi hopes, this research can be beneficial for society at large and also enhance the international reputation of Unpad, given that this research grant is on an international scale.
“We hope this can impact Unpad’s participation on the international stage, in the context of research and scholarship in the fields of information systems, aquaculture, and gender,” he hoped.
This research is also expected to contribute to the digital transformation, particularly in the aquaculture sector. Ritchi assesses that the economic value of the aquaculture sector, especially shrimp, is substantial and can contribute to Indonesia’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Besides, research on shrimp health management based on digital technology is still minimal.
“We see that the role of digital technology is very helpful to provide certainty, offer more precise curation in identifying locations or diagnosing shrimp diseases that could become a unique catalogue,” said Prof. Ritchi.
Moreover, Prof. Ritchi also hoped that this research could contribute to providing input for the government in improving aquaculture policies.
2024 KONEKSI is a collaborative research fund between the government of Indonesia and Australia. In this research, the team will also collaborate with the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Sydney, PT. Multidaya Teknologi Nusantara (eFishery), and the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries of the Republic of Indonesia as the research partners. (arm/SA)*
