A new agreement was signed between Indonesia’s National Nuclear Energy Agency (BATAN) and the IAEA, designating the Center for Isotopes and Radiation Application (CIRA, BATAN) as an IAEA Collaborating Centre.
BATAN has already been designated a Collaborating Centre in the field of non-destructive testing (NDT). CIRA, which specializes in plant mutation breeding techniques, is expanding the scope of the partnership. This collaboration, a four year commitment, will help improve plant mutation breeding techniques and spread them throughout the region, so agricultural activities can achieve increased yields and greater resilience to climate change.
CIRA has successfully developed many mutant plant varieties and received an outstanding achievement award from the IAEA’s Director General, Yukiya Amano. One of the centre’s contributions will be to validate and co-develop protocols for mutation breeding of rice, sorghum, and soybeans. This goal will be facilitated by the exchange of resources with the Joint IAEA/FAO Division for food and agriculture, such as germplasm (collections of living genetic resources that can be used to develop and apply directed breeding techniques).
