The Semarang State Polytechnic Student Creativity Program (PKM) team which is engaged in Community Service or commonly abbreviated as PKM-PM, made an innovation in utilizing straw waste into organic pots. With Mellysa Widyaningsih (D4 - Computerized Accounting) as the team leader and 4 members including Dita Putri Citraningtyas (D3 - Telecommunication Engineering), Retno Prihartini (D3 - Energy Conversion Engineering), Ulfa Almira Istiqomah (D3 - Telecommunication Engineering), and Yuni Wiji Astuti (D4- Financial Analyst) with supervisor Mrs. Dra. Mardinawati, MM.
Seeing the conditions in Kalikudi Village, Adipala District, Cilacap Regency, which has a large area of rice fields, some of the people in that location make a living as farmers. So that when the harvest season arrives, it will leave waste from the harvest, one of which is straw waste.
Although straw waste is classified as organic waste, some farmers still use the wrong way to get rid of the waste. One of them is by burning straw. This causes problems for the surrounding community with complaints of burning smoke entering their environment. In addition, burning smoke causes air pollution which can have a negative impact on the human respiratory system. The process of burning straw also has an impact on paddy fields which causes some of the nutrients in the soil to evaporate easily (volatile) so that the level of soil fertility will decrease.
"Because there are still many farmers who have not been able to use straw waste properly, and complaints from the public due to straw burning. Therefore, our team wants to make innovations by educating farmers to process straw waste that is more useful and environmentally friendly by processing it into organic pots,” said Mellysa as team leader.
With this, the PKM-PM team collaborated with the Kedawung Lestari Farmer Group in Kalikudi Village, Adipala District to utilize straw waste by processing it into organic pots.
Prior to that, the PKM-PM team held the first socialization and training on the use of straw waste into organic pots on Sunday, August 7, 2021. The activity began with an introduction to the team, presentation of core activities, and continued with the practice of making organic pots directly. The purpose of this activity is not only to provide education regarding the use of waste, but also to provide direct understanding regarding the manufacture of organic pots using production machines.
The socialization also received a very positive response from Mr. Nartam as the Head of Kalikudi Village and also the farmer groups who were present. The socialization and training activities were also monitored by the supervisor, namely Dra. Mardinawati, MM who was present virtually, to find out the level of success of the activity process being carried out. He also thanked all the partners who attended and hoped that this program could advance agricultural technology in Kalikudi Village, especially in the processing of harvested straw waste.
After the first training activity was carried out, the PKM-PM team again held a second training on Friday, August 20, 2021, where the farmer group directly made organic pot products, while the team only supervised and helped the practice if there were problems.
In addition, the team also held socialization related to product marketing in services e-commerce in the form of Shoppe and Instagram. It is hoped that with the exposure to the marketing of this product, it can develop an entrepreneurial spirit, increase income, and if the business develops it can form MSMEs.
Based on the results of the activities that have been achieved, the team concluded that the smoke of straw waste which is a problem for residents has decreased, due to the processing of waste into organic pots and if product marketing efforts continue, it will become a mass-produced pot center business in MSMEs for the Kedawung Lestari women's farmer group. Kalikudi Village so that it can improve the residents' economy.