2015 Conference: Lim Jung Lee

SPEAKERS

Dr Lim Jung Lee
President Director of PT Syngenta Indonesia and Founder/Board Member of PisAgro (Public-Private Partnership in Sustainable Agriculture)

Dr Lim Jung Lee is the President Director of PT Syngenta Indonesia (2010-present). Previously, he was the Country Head for Syngenta Crop Protection Sdn Bhd, Malaysia (2007-2010); and the Head of Lawn and Gardens, Asia Pacific, Syngenta Singapore (2003-2007).

Dr Jung Lee has 34 years of experience in the agriculture industry; spending about 10 years in Research and Development; published more than 35 papers on new findings in crop protection and crop productivity; more than 20 years in Marketing, Business Management & General Management; including four years in regional role in Asia Pacific (Asia & Australasia). Dr Jung Lee is the Founder and Board Member of PisAgro (2011-present); Chairperson of the Malaysian CropLife and Public Health Association (2000-2004); and President of Malaysian Plant Protection Society (1996-1997).

He completed his B.Sc (Hons) in Biology – Entomology at Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang (1979) followed by a post-graduate diploma in Applied Parasitology and Entomology, Institute for Medical Research, Kuala Lumpur in the same year. He obtained his PhD in Biology – Entomology at the Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang in (1995).

Opportunity, Challenges and Stamina—An Operational Experience in Indonesia

The Indonesian Government has ambitious food security plans and aims to achieve self-sufficiency on rice and corn production in three years. PisAgro was founded in 2012 to provide an innovative, multi-stakeholder model for addressing the agricultural challenges of the nation. In 2013, Syngenta launched its Good Growth Plan, which has six specific commitments to address critical challenges the world faces in feeding a growing population. These six commitments mirror the visions and aspirations of both the government and PisAgro in achieving food security and sustainable food production. The alignment of strategy and vision, between government and member organizations in PisAgro, is an important foundation to achieve market-based Thought Leadership via an inclusive model.

PisAgro is a voluntary organization and its success is primarily driven by private-sector business leaders who are passionate on its 20:20:20 vision to achieve crop productivity, grower prosperity and environmental sustainability. In practice, however, working across a large group of multi-stakeholders with different ideologies, working cultures and agendas is challenging. Obtaining commitment from stakeholders to invest resources to experiment on unproven business models is another key challenge. As projects progress from simple pilots to scale-ups, the complexity of managing these projects increases, adding more pressure on limited management and field resources. In order to ensure scale-up sustainability, and address project implementation complexities, the inclusive culture of leveraging strengths, expertise and sharing best practices of partners have to be inculcated. Lastly, in the longer term, there must be continuity of strong leadership in the public and private sectors to drive the food security agenda. At the operational level, there must be stamina to complete the journey, supported by the courage of parent companies and donor organizations to continue to invest in market-based opportunities to achieve crop productivity gains, farmer prosperity and environmental sustainability.