UNS — Team 123 of Student Community Service Program (KKN) Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS) Surakarta transformed narrow, unused, and non-productive land into a simple garden using Rockwool as planting material. This program represents their commitment to providing positive and sustainable benefits for the community and food resilience in Wirun Village, Mojolaban Subdistrict, Sukoharjo District.
In an interview with uns.ac.id on Tuesday (23/2/2021), Team 123 KKN leader Muhammad Sa’ad explained that Wirun has extensive non-productive lands that hold green landscaping potential. He added that the program was followed by interactive training that allows participants to put the knowledge into practice using plastic bottles and glasses as hydroponic planting media. “Participants also received free vegetable seedling in the workshop,” he explained.
Sa’ad added that Rockwool is a fiber made from basalt rock meltdown that forming foam, which is why this material can be used as a simple hydroponic planting media. Rockwool can be combined with other used materials such as used bottles. Rockwool floats on water and absorbs water, which makes this material as appropriate as planting media for diverse plants, especially vegetables such as spinach and water spinach.
“Rockwool is also lightweight and does not moldy, which makes it easier to store,” Informatics and Computer Engineering Education student added.
Vegetable seeds that workshop participants got are chili, tomato, and eggplants placed in villager’s yards. They hope that this program will improve local community creativity and independence in managing narrow and non-productive lands around their house.
“The series of programs is our commitment to love the earth and achieve food resilience. Utilizing narrow and non-productive lands and used materials is our mission so that the community achieves food independence amid the pandemic and in the future,” Sa’ad hopes. Humas UNS
Reporter: Bayu Aji Prasetya
Editor: Dwi Hastuti
