UNS — A team of Student Creativity Program for Community Services (PKM-M) Faculty of Agriculture (FP) Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS) Surakarta provided agricultural education using Microgreen to students of Muhammadiyah 3 Elementary School Surakarta. This team has members of Rosyid Dwi Windarto (Agribusiness Program), Rahmatdani Ardian Perkasa (Agribusiness Program), Arifianto Pemdyan Nur R (Agribusiness Program), Larasati Annisa Bella K (Agrotechnology Program), and Rika Mayang Hapsari (Diploma Program (D3) in Agribusiness with interest in Horticulture), supervised by Dr. Ernoiz Antriyandarti.
The team leader, Rosyid Dwi Windarto stated that the decrease in the young generation’s interest in the agricultural sector is one of the serious issues that Indonesia needs to solve and anticipate. The government’s socialization or promotion in the agricultural sector to the younger generation is minimal, even though agriculture is a potential sector to be developed. “Therefore, we held agriculture education activity to elementary school students through a simple farming experience to open their views on agriculture and increase student’s interest in gardening,” Rosyid Dwi Windarto explained, Thursday (10/12/2020).
Rosyid continued that his team chooses to introduce Microgreen because it has an easy and efficient farming method to be learned by elementary school students. A microgreen is young and soft plants that can be eaten and cultivated as seeds. A microgreen is sold as a raw product to be used in salad, sandwiches, or garnish.
Due to Covid-19pandemic, this activity was held online. Socialization and mentoring were carried out through WhatsApp groups with student guardians to be forwarded to their children. To facilitate the education process, the team prepared a guidebook titled “Microgreen Cultivation as a Form of Active School Garden for Todays’ Students”. The guide is also designed in an interesting video animation format and uploaded to YouTube channel.
The Head of Agribusiness Program FP UNS, Dr. Sri Marwanti stated that the program fully supports the publication of this book as the results of student creativity and collaborative work to motivate active learning of food agriculture. To provide access to other elementary schools, especially Adiwiyata Elementary School, the team worked together with the Department of Education of Surakarta Municipality to socialize the Microgreen guidebook. “Therefore, this activity can be applied directly by students in their own house during the pandemic and become an active school garden in Surakarta Municipality after the pandemic,” Dr. Sri Marwanti stated.
This PKM-M won funding from the Directorate of Learning and Student Affairs, Directorate General of Higher Education, Ministry of Education and Culture (Kemendikbud) of the Republic of Indonesia (RI). Humas UNS
Reporter: Dwi Hastuti