Engineers from 15 countries in the Asia-Pacific region gathered from 4 to 8 September in Kamphaeng Saen, Thailand, for the Sixth Training of Trainers of the Asian and Pacific Network for Testing of Agricultural Machinery (ANTAM).
 
The training was organized by the Centre for Sustainable Agricultural Mechanization of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP-CSAM) together with the Thailand National Agricultural Machinery Centre (NAMC) at Kasetsart University and the Japan Institute of Agricultural Machinery, National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (IAM-NARO). The training falls within the framework of the ANTAM-Japan Cooperation Project, and was the opportunity to recognize and appreciate the support given by IAM-NARO to ANTAM throughout various trainings and Technical Working Groups during the past years.
 
The training programme was designed to support member countries’ efforts in establishing new testing stations for agricultural machinery, becoming acquainted with the 2022 version of the ANTAM Codes, as well as achieving the ANTAM accreditation for existing facilities. The training curriculum also included an overview and demonstration of the Thai Industrial Standards Code for walk-behind tractor, and in addition to a detailed demonstration and hands-on implementation of test items from the ANTAM Codes on Power Tillers (001-2022) and Misters-cum-Dusters (002-2022), it demonstrated safety testing according to Japanese standards.

The programme also included visits to the testing facilities and laboratories at Kamphaeng Saen Campus of Kasetsart University, and an agricultural machinery demonstration farm in Chonburi province. The regional event marked the first in-person ANTAM training since 2019, and the first event of its kind in Thailand.