Officials from the UPLB Agricultural Machinery Testing and Evaluation Center (AMTEC) joined the 11th annual meeting of the Asian and Pacific Network for Testing of Agricultural Machinery (ANTAM), through the participation of Engr. Marie Jehosa B. Reyes and Engr. Fatima Joy R. Aying, in Kathmandu, Nepal last December 3-5, 2024.

Delegates from 19 of the 20 ANTAM participating countries attended this year’s gathering, including the Philippines. Apart from the UPLB AMTEC, the government was also represented by authorities in charge of the development and implementation of national standards, namely: Director James E. Elepaño of the Department of Trade and Industry’s Philippine Accreditation Bureau (DTI-PAB), and Dr. Juana T. Tapel, Assistant Director of the Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Agricultural and Fisheries Engineering (DA-BAFE).

This year, the meeting was co-organized by the Nepal Agricultural Engineering Research Centre (NAERC), Nepal Agriculture Research Council (NARC), and the Centre for Sustainable Agricultural Mechanization (CSAM) of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). 

Engr. Reyes and Engr. Aying are the current managing engineers of UPLB AMTEC’s main laboratories, the Agricultural Machinery Testing and Studies (AMaTS) Laboratory and the Sample Analysis Laboratory (SAL) respectively. Both of them are also active members of ANTAM technical working groups for the development of harmonized testing codes for the region.

The meeting welcomed standard authorities from the participating nations to tackle the plans and future acceptance of the mutual recognition of test reports and the adoption of the updated ANTAM codes and procedures. During the event, Engr. Reyes along with Engr. Mark Twain A. Limbo of the DA-BAFE presented the works of the Technical Working Group of Power Tillers and Mini-Tillers to which they are co-chairs. 

Moreover, the delegates also discussed the results of the round-robin test for power tillers, in which UPLB AMTEC has actively participated, and the ways forward including the quality manual, and accreditation of ANTAM testing centers.

Apart from the actual meeting, the delegates have also visited an exhibition of small-scale agricultural machinery of suppliers from the private sector. A preliminary session was simultaneously held to discuss an overview of the ANTAM initiative and a presentation on the trade benefits of mutual recognition of test reports.

The annual gathering has also elected the countries of Bhutan and Türkiye as the 2025’s Chair and Vice Chair of ANTAM, which means the next host nation for its 12th yearly meeting will be held in the Kingdom of Bhutan.