The Light of Indonesia that Shines in Africa
Starting from her passion for plants and seed cultivation, Dr. Putri Ernawati Abidin has succeeded in becoming an agronomist. She has devoted herself as an agricultural expert dealing with many problems of food, hunger, malnutrition, gender inequality, and ethnic conflicts.
After officially becoming an alumni of IPB University, Erna, as she is familiarly called, continued her studies at Wageningen University, the Netherlands, to earn a Master's and PhD degree. From here, Erna then did a lot of applied research for changes and scaling around the world of agriculture, food security, nutrition, and education.
During this service, Erna was also said to be an Agricultural System and Nutrition Advocacy Specialist who was concerned with plant breeding, genetics, agronomy related to seeding systems, production, value chains and marketing strategies.
She was later honored as Professor Emeritus of K-State University. No wonder Erna has also been trusted to become an Expert Staff in the Ministry of Agriculture for 12 years.
Erna's gait did not stop there. On the occasion of the Ecology, Culture, and Development Discussion Forum held by the Department of Communication Science and Community Development of IPB University, Erna revealed that her activities are currently focusing on overcoming problems of food, hunger, malnutrition, gender inequality, and ethnic conflicts in Africa.
Erna's efforts in Africa began with her profession as an educator in Uganda (1994-2001). She then continued as a researcher at a non-governmental organization (NGO) with the name Reputed Agiv 4 Dev Stichting & Foundation. She mentioned that her fight in the African continent was carried out with a simple intention, which was to only contribute to humanity.
Erna explained about the general condition of agriculture in several countries in Africa. According to her, in West Africa such as Ghana, Burkina Faso and Nigeria, sweet potato is one of the staple foods. However, in the eyes of their government, sweet potato is not used as an economic value crop to be able to drive the agricultural economy.
She is also a Seed Systems Scientist at The International Potato Center (CIP) and Project Manager for Jumpstarting Orange Fleshed Sweetpotato (OFSP) in West Africa through Diversified Markets. Erna has more than 20 years of experience in the field of sweet potato cultivation and agricultural base in Tamale, Ghana.
“Another problem is that sweet potato is only considered food for the poor. There is even a local belief that eating sweet potato is not good for men. This must be resolved because sweet potato can be an entry point to overcome the problems of hunger, malnutrition, stunting and increase food security and sovereignty in African countries," explained the CEO/Founder of Reputed Agriculture 4 Development Stichting.
A number of breeding programs conducted by Erna in Ghana and Burkina Faso, in fact have contributed greatly, especially in the spread of new varieties there. She explained that her scientific responsibility and knowledge regarding the benefits of sweet potato will help and bring light to the future for African people.
So that building Africa only needs an initiation towards the productivity of sweet potatoes which have become the staple food of the people on a massive scale. From the agricultural sector, children's nutritional intake is a provision for the future to reach their goals.
