UNS — The Faculty of Agriculture (FP) Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS) Surakarta held a webinar on “The Empowerment and Development of Rural Tourism in Indonesia: Agroecotourism and Rural Creative Economy”, Monday (23/11/2020), through Zoom Cloud Meeting. The Vice-Rector for Student and Alumni Affairs UNS, Prof. Kuncoro Diharjo, and the Dean of FP UNS, Prof. Samanhudi attended this occasion.
FP UNS also invited several speakers to discuss the importance of agroecotourism and the creative economy in developing the tourism industry in rural areas. The speakers are Syarafudin, Ph.D (Head of Plantation Research Center, Ministry of Agriculture (Kementan) RI), Dr. Agung Wibowo (Lecturer of Community Development UNS), Irfan Asy’ari Sudirman (Advisory Board of KADIN Indonesia), and Dr. Intan Novela (Faculty Member of Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB) UNS).
The Vice-Rector opened the event for Student and Alumni Affairs UNS, Prof. Kuncoro Diharjo. In his opening remark, Prof. Kuncoro stated that a synergy between university, central government, local government, the industry, and community is required in tourism development. “The higher education has the responsibility to administer education and development of Human Resources capacity in the tourism industry,” Prof. Kuncoro stated.
As the first speaker, Syarafudin, Ph.D delivered material on “The Development of Agroedutourism Area”. He explained that Kementan RI has a target to increase rural community welfare. This target will be achieved by increasing national food production productivity, facilitating food distribution, increasing transportation accessibility, maintaining price stability and establishing buffer stock, and market intervention through the market operation. “The development of agricultural commodity has high economic value through adequate economic of scale, thematic development, and implementation of agricultural innovation, which is functioned as a place for training, internship, and environmentally friendly tourism destination,” Syarafudin, Ph.D. stated.
In the webinar, Syarafudin, Ph.D also encouraged that the Forest Area with Special Purpose (Kawasan Hutan dengan Tujuan Khusus – KHDTK) of Mount Bromo managed by UNS is developed into agroedutourism. He added that the commodity development area must be supported by business partnerships, dissemination centers, business advocacy to the broader community, and friendly services to domestic and foreign tourists.
Continuing material from Syarafudin, Ph.D, the second speaker, Dr. Agung Wibowo mentioned the pentahelic approach that consists of the government, academia, business, community, and media as the determining factors in the success of agroecotourism destination. He stated that university students have five roles as the agent of change, guardian of value (students guard the values in the community such as honesty, justice, mutual cooperation, integrity and empathy), iron stock (students as the nation’s future generation and as moral force), and social control. He added that university students, as a part of academia, play a strategic role in developing agroecotourism in the future. “Because university students as millennials have a special closeness with the digital world, thus, the future of this nation is in their hands,” Dr. Agung Wibowo stated.
The next speaker, Irfan Asy’ari Sudirman explained that the tourism sector is the largest foreign exchange contributor for Indonesia. However, due to the Covid-19 pandemic that struck since March this year, the tourism sector experienced a significant decline. Amid the pandemic, Irfan Asy’ari Sudirman considers that there is a sector that is not affected by the pandemic, the agriculture sector. He explained that the agriculture sector’s ability to stay productive amid the pandemic shows that agricultural-based tourism has a high opportunity to grow. Humas UNS
Reporter: Yefta Christopherus AS
Editor: Dwi Hastuti
