UNS – Lecturers of Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Science (FMIPA) Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS) Surakarta carried out community service by assisting salt farmers in Demak, Central Java. The lecturers are Dr. Witri Wahyu Lestari, Dr. Sayekti Wahyuningsih, Dr. Soerya Dewi Marliyana, and Teguh Endah Saraswati, Ph.D. from Chemistry Department; Dr.tech. Dewi Wisnu Wardani from Informatics (Computer Science) Department; and also Ahmad Marzuki Ph.D. from Physics Department.
To the reporter, Dr. Witri said that the six lectures of FMIPA UNS were doing the community service independently. “We found that salt farmers in Mutih, Wedung, Demak still use conventional system. So we want to assist them in expectation that the salt productivity, as well as the quality, will increase and the market will expand,” explained Dr. Witri when met in her office, Friday (06/14/2019).
In cooperation with Department of Industry, Cooperatives and SMEs of Demak Regency, Dr. Witri and other lecturers conducted the training program so the farmer’s salt production in Demak increased, the salt purity was high, and did not depend on the season.
“The potential of the salt is very good there, but many farmers still use the conventional system to process it. So we trained them how to produce iodized salt, high-purity salts, salt in a greenhouse that it doesn’t depend on the season,” she explained.
After the socialization, the Team will submit a proposal related to the assisting program of salt farmers in Demak so they could get funds injection that later will be used by the salt farmers to improve the productivity and quality of the salt.
“So far, the salt farmers have problems at the refining process and the farmland preparation. We tried to find funding through the proposal. Hopefully, it will be accepted and we will get the funding that will make our plan to build a greenhouse for the salt farmers can be realized,” she added.
Furthermore, the team was planning to add on other variants of salt product, such as salt for spa, cosmetics, and others.
“In conclusion, the utilization of salt will be wider,” said Dr. Witri. Humas UNS/ Dwi/Try