UNS – The impact of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is directly affecting the economic condition of the middle-lower community. Those who usually depend on their life on a daily income from trading, motorcycle taxi, and daily labor have to think of a solution to survive with limited money.
Considering the community’s economic condition, which is increasingly worrying, the Mathematicians of the Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS) Surakarta, Dr. Sutanto Sastradiredja, DEA suggested that the community fulfill their daily needs through a barter system.
“The traditional village market started to use barter transactions without money. Currently, I have started,” said Dr. Sutanto.
The barter system he suggests has been implemented in his culinary business named ‘Café Librairie’. Dr. Sutanto said that in the Café Librairie the traditional market merchants who are currently relocated from Pasar Legi, who occupy the stall across from his business location, can buy lunch using a barter system. Eventually, the lunch ordered will be bartered with unsold foodstuff/groceries belonging to the market merchants.
“Across from our business location, there are market merchants whose income is dragged due to Corona pandemic. I allow them to buy lunch by bartering their unsold groceries. A barter system is the proper temporary method to maintain business. Hopefully, there will be a philanthropist who will provide capital in the form of daily necessities as a for the initial barter roll,” he added.
Further, he explains that the groceries from the market merchants are pegged at wholesale prices that can be bartered with lunch, food, and daily necessities. Most of the buyers who come to Café Librairie are market merchants or the porters.
Dr. Sutanto detailing the staple food prices that are pegged at wholesale prices that can be bartered for food such as long beans at Rp 5,000/kg, sweet corn at Rp 2,000/cob, papaya at Rp 15,000/kg, cabbage at Rp 6,000/kg, garlic at Rp 10,000/0.25kg, Kencur (Kaempferia galangal) at Rp 5,000/kg, galangal (lengkuas) at Rp 4,000/kg, ginger at Rp 36,000/kg, tamarind at Rp 11,000/kg, and red crackers (kerupuk merah) at Rp 7,000/kg.
The groceries obtained from the barter with the market merchants will be sold to the consumers through an online platform such as WhatsApp Group or Facebook. If there are any consumers who order through the online system, the groceries will be delivered to them using online freight transportation services.
“The product collected from the barter, further, will be sold online in Café Librairie Facebook page or WAG. Alhamdulillah, within this week there are many generous benefactors who are willing to buy the results of the barter, though not all. The barter groceries result will be displayed again on for the next day,” he said.
Dr. Sutanto who is a Mathematician in UNS, then, explains the mathematical model that should no longer discuss the spread model of COVID-19 infection. However, mathematics can be implemented to establish a mathematical model for a barter system.
“In the end, talking about mathematics, but not about coronavirus spread, instead of mathematics barter model: the transformation of the traditional market toward e-commerce, which is the mandate of the Fisher formula MxV=PxT,” explains Dr. Sutanto. Humas UNS/Yefta
