Three AQIS scientific staff from northern Australia travelled to Indonesia recently to help train the trainers—field extension officers from Lombok, Bali, Java and Sumatra—with a focus on techniques to diagnose huanglongbing (yellow dragon disease) or citrus greening.

Trainers from Bogor Agricultural University, Indonesia's Agency for Agricultural Quarantine, Gadjah Mada University and AQIS presented information and practical training workshops at the Pest Forecasting Centre in Jatisari, three hours out of the capital, Jakarta. The Indonesian field extension officers will now go back to their 12 provinces and pass on the knowledge to help local farmers.

Yellow dragon disease has no cure; it grows in the tissue of citrus plants and kills the tree. The symptoms—a gradual yellowing that spreads slowly over the tree—gave rise to its Chinese name huanglongbing meaning yellow dragon. It is devastating to citrus growers to watch the yellow dragon devour the tree because the only way to overcome the disease is to destroy all infected trees and replant in areas free of the bacterium and free of the insect that spreads it, the citrus psyllid.

AQIS plant pathologist Lynne Jones rejuvenated a disused laboratory and taught the field officers how to run citrus greening diagnostics. The disease is difficult to diagnose visually and molecular diagnosis is virtually the only means available. Lynne's colleagues, entomologist Glenn Bellis and plant pathologist Jane Ray, presented information on pest surveillance, methodology and collection.

The three AQIS staff taught a total of 48 Indonesian staff in three separate groups.

'It was my first trip to do this training work overseas and I was pleased with the results. I prepared workshops notes, which proved to be the key in breaking down the language barrier, as the participants could read English better than they could speak it,' Lynne said.

'The great thing about the participants was they were keen as mustard and worked well together. If one of them could understand what I was saying, they would share it with the rest of the group.'

Ibu Cahayaniati, head of the Fruit Protection Division of the Indonesian Department of Agriculture's Directorate of Horticulture Protection, said 'Early detection and mapping of areas affected by huanglongbing is vital in our fight to grow healthy citrus trees. If we can diagnose the disease early and map affected areas, we can encourage planting in areas that are free of the disease.'

Jane and Glenn stayed on in Indonesia for a further two weeks after the conference to do a joint survey of mango production areas in West Java with Indonesian colleagues.