Students team of UNY led by Arif Hidayat (Communication Science) along with the members; Restu Saputra (Physic), M. Farhan Aziz (Electrical Engineering Education), and Muhammad Royan (Mechanical Engineering Education) has proved their effort by being the bronze medalist at the NRCT (National Research Council of Thailand) Bangkok International Intellectual Property, Invention, Innovation and Technology Exposition (IPITEx) for the environmental product category. The event was actually to celebrate “Thailand Inventors' Day” held on February, 2nd-6th 2019.

In brief, NRCT is a governmental organization regarded as the department under supervision by the Prime Minister assigned to be the Deputy Prime Minister. NRCT acts as a main unit assigned to provide suggestions and advices in improving national development by the means of research and development. On top of that, NRCT also promotes and supports all kinds of study, invention, innovation, and technology transfer to related users for both private and public sector. One of the main events conducted to promote invention and innovation is the collaboration between NRCT with related organization to held Thailand Inventors' Day.

In the event, the UNY team presented a work titled “Inovasi BAPER: Bioinsecticide Pest of Rice (Oryza sativa) from Kenanga Flower Extract and Seed Yam”. Arif Hidayat explained that their idea emerged from the fact that a lot of farmers are worried about their rice fields being attacked by harmful pests. As a result, the team wanted to find a solution to solve the problem by creating a product named “BAPER”.  It is a product made from 100% natural ingredients; Kenanga Flower Extract and Seed Yam without being contaminated by any chemicals.

“BAPER is very beneficial for the environment because of its eco-friendliness and its easy use. Our product is capable of eliminating and wiping out pests such as locust (grasshoppers) and planthoppers. With this product, we aim to free the rice farm completely from pests,” Arif added. (Eko/terj.AJN)