Manokwari and South Manokwari Regencis represents the rice crop development areas in West Papua. Lowland rice in those two areas are always infected by blast disease. Resistant variety if available is a major component to controll blast disease, because it is effective, economical, and easy to apply. The use of blast resistant varieties as a control technique is limited by space and time, and must be adjusted to the composition of the Pyricularia grisea races in the area. Collection and identification of Pyricularia races had not been conducted from West Papua previously. The present study was aimed to identify composition of Pyricularia races from the areas. Samples of diseased plants were taken from the rice field in West Papua and research was done at laboratory and greenhouse in Muara Experimental Station, Bogor, in 2017. Results showed that 34 Pyricularia isolates were obtained from the infected plant samples obtained from Prafi, Masni, Sidey and Oransbari Districts. Race of Pyricularia was classified into 9 race groups, namely race 211, 213, 241, 251, 253, 313, 333, 353 and race 373, and the race populations were dominated by race 333 representing 41.18% and race 373 by 33.35%. The Pyricularia races obtained from West Papua belong to highly virulent races.

Penggerek batang jagung merupakan salah satu hama penting pada tanaman jagung termasuk di Kabupaten Manokwari. Penggerek batang jagung dapat menyerang semua bagian tanaman seperti daun, batang, bunga jantan, bunga betina, dan tongkol. Pengkajian dilaksanakan pada bulan Maret – Juni tahun 2017 di Kebun Percobaan BPTP Papua Barat di Anday Kabupaten Manokwari. Percobaan dengan rancangan acak kelompok (RAK) yang terdiri dari 4 perlakuan varietas yang diulang sebanyak 4 kali. Penelitian dilaksanakan untuk melihat tingkat serangan larva penggerek batang jagung O. furnacalis pada beberapa jagung komposit untuk mendapatkan 1 atau lebih varietas jagung yang bersifat nonpreference terhadap larva O. furnacalis. Hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan semua varietas jagung yang ditanam terserang oleh larva penggerek batang jagung dengan tingkat serangan tertinggi pada varietas Sukmaraga dan Srikandi Kuning sebesar 25% dan terendah pada varietas Srikandi Putih sebesar 12,5% dan lebih bersifat nonpreference terhadap penggerek batang jagung dibandingkan dengan ketiga varietas lainnya. Lubang gerekan pada varietas Sukmaraga mulai ditemukan pada umur fase vegetatif sebesar 4,8%, sedangkan lubang gerekan pada varietas Srikandi Kuning, Srikandi Putih, dan Pulut Uri 100% terjadi pada fase generatif

Decrease in production and quality of grain due to neck blast disease in some lowland rice varieties. Neck blast disease of rice causes a decrease in yields both in quantity and quality. The study was conducted to see the effect of neck blast disease on the characteristics of grain and yields of several high yielding varieties of lowland rice. The varieties used were Ciherang, Inpari 4, Inpari 7, Inpari 8, and Inpari 9. The parameters observed were the incidence and severity of neck blast disease, the ratio of the size of the seeds of healthy and sick panicles and the estimated production. The analysis showed that all varieties planted were infected by neck blast disease, but based on Disease Incident rate in the Necks, Ciherang and Inpari 8 varieties reacted susceptible to neck blast disease, Inpari 7 and 9 were moderate and Inpari 4 was resistant to neck blast disease.  The quality of panicle grain infected by neck blast disease has decreased the size of grain width and was significantly different from grain of healthy panicles in all varieties. The highest estimated productivity was Inpari 4 variety of 10,378 kg/ha which experienced a decrease in production by 35.86% and the lowest was Ciherang variety of 8,367 kg/ha which experienced a decrease in production by 48.37% when they were infected by neck blast disease.

South Manokwari has triumphed with cocoa since 1980 but that glory has faded in recent years. Recently, this regency is faced with various problems for the development of cocoa agribusiness. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the current cocoa-based business in South Manokwari. This research was conductedin three districts in South Manokwari namely Oransbari, Ransiki, and Momi Waren. The study was conducted using the purposive random sampling technique on 119 respondents. The distribution of respondents in the three districts was: Oransbari 44 respondents; Ransiki 42 respondents; and Momi Waren 33 respondents. Basedon the study results, it was known that the average plantation ownership by the farmers was 1.09 ha. Ninety nine percent of farmers were still in productive age (15-65 years). The level of education was still low with 67.13% of farmers had no formal education or did not finish elementary school. Cultivation practices thatmust be improved included pruning (74.71%), fertilization (95.89%), pest and disease control (55.16%), and waste utilization (82.07%). The cocoa beans’ average production was in the range of 71.67–173.33 kg dry beans or 21.67–1000 kg fresh beans per ha harvested from 1,574 ha of farmers’ cocoa land in South Manokwari. Meanwhile, the average prices for cocoa beans were USD 0.24–USD 0.36/kg for the fresh beans and USD 1.20–USD 2.23/kg for the dried beans.