UNS — Students in the Student Community Service Program (KKN) Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS) Surakarta Group 200 conducted assistance for cultivation, production, and marketing process for aloe vera products to the members of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Rezeki Barokah in Karangwungu Village, Karangdowo Sub-District, Klaten District.
According to the member, Adha Nisfatulsanah, the MSME experienced irrigation, production, and limited marketing reach challenges. These issues encouraged the Group to conduct assistance for the MSME in their July-August KKN program. The programs were implemented in two weeks, from Sunday (15/8/2021) to Sunday (29/8/2021).
In terms of the irrigation process, Group 200 found that the aloe vera farmers still implemented manual irrigation by taking water from the well and use it to water the plants one by one. “This gave us an idea to find out what irrigation system suitable to be applied and could hold the community in the maintenance,” Annisa Rohanifah, a member of the Group, stated.
Aloe vera cannot be watered with water contaminated by pesticides. Therefore, the irrigation process should use groundwater from the well. This encouraged the Group to create an irrigation canal with a simple drip system. The system is prepared using a drum to collect the water from the well. The drum is equipped with a faucet to flow water to perforated pipes to water the aloe vera plants.
“This simple drip irrigation is expected to help the community and ease them in taking care of their aloe vera plants,” Annisa said.
Group 200 also conducted production training for dodol (traditional sweets) and nata de aloe with MSME Rezeki Barokah on Sunday (22/8/2021), as explained by Annisa. “Before the training, we provided information to all MSME members on how good packaging. We also help with labels selection for each product,” Annisa added.
The Team also conducted training for product pictures and online marketing techniques to create interesting product pictures and increase sales because product pictures are the key to gain people’s interest in digital marketing. The digital marketing training focuses on Instagram, Facebook, Telegram, WhatsApp, and Shopee platforms.
The marketing training includes steps to create Shopee and Instagram account. Followed by adding an online shop, uploading products, order processing, and transfer income to a personal account from Shopee. Currently, MSME Rezeki Barokah has an online shop in Shopee and has started to expand its marketing reach. Humas UNS
Reporter: Zalfaa Azalia Pursita
Editor: Dwi Hastuti