Brigitta Pungki Yuliashari (Business Administration) as Chair of the Student Creativity Program in Community Service (PKM PM) Politeknik Negeri Semarang with members: Adib Riski Fauzi (Electrical Engineering), Balqis Ayu Wijayanti (Accounting), Nur Aini Virnanda Selly (Accounting), Yusuf Noufal Rahman (Civil Engineering) under the guidance of Dra. Nurul Hamidah, M.Pd. carried out a series of activities "Empowering Sembungharjo Village Residents through Optimizing Coconut Fiber Waste into Various Prospective Commodities". This activity was carried out at the Sembungharjo Village Hall and was attended by representatives of women from each RT/RW and MSME actors from Sembungharjo Village, Genuk District, Semarang City.
The Sembungharjo area has the potential for coconut trees to grow abundantly but there is no waste processing in the form of coconut fiber produced. In fact, there is also a habit among residents of deliberately hoarding them, burning them and throwing them away around their homes. For this reason, this community empowerment was held 3 times, including: training in making resin pot mats and cocopeat fertilizer (2/9/23), digital marketing (3/9/23), and making kokedama pots from cocofiber (10/9/23).
The activity opened with remarks from Sumarjono, SE, as Head of Sembungharjo Village and Brigitta as chief executive. Then, it continued with an explanation of the material and the formation of groups for product making demonstrations. Implementation of the program is carried out by preparing the necessary tools and materials. The raw materials were obtained from Mr. Warsito, who is one of the founders of a business processing coconut fiber waste into cocopeat and cocofiber in Sembungharjo. The types of plants used are: TOGA (ginger and aloe vera) and ornamental plants (mother-in-law's tongue, lilies of Paris, sunflowers). Apart from that, hemp thread, sewing thread, compost, manure and burnt husks were also prepared. "Cocopeat must go through a fermentation process for more than a week to remove the tannin content which has the potential to inhibit plant growth," said Balqis explaining during the fertilizer making process.
The residents were very enthusiastic when listening to the presentation of material and training. The products they make are quite good and finished without any problems. At the end of the session, residents are required to fill out a satisfaction form. A total of 75% data results stated that the program presented was good and the rest were sufficient. The village head hopes that residents who come from among housewives and MSMEs can develop their creativity through the activities that have been carried out. The hope is that this activity can help overcome waste problems as well as educate prospective commodities with economic value. Providing plaques, documentation and the slogan "Sembungharjo is Extraordinary!" will conclude the series of PKM Community Service activities on September 10 2023. Complete information can be seen on the Instagram account @pkmpm.prospeksisembungharjo