IPB University KKN-T Students Socialize Urban Farming Innovation to Bondongan Village Community

Urban farming or also known as urban agriculture is a farming activity that can be carried out by urban communities by utilizing existing land. Therefore, IPB University's Thematic Community Service Program (KKN-T) students socialized 'Bondongan Urban Farming' to the Pitaloka Women Farmers Group (KWT) and the Bondongan community, Bogor City, West Java, recently.

One of the participants from the RW 18 Family Welfare Empowerment (PKK), Tita Suwita said, "This socialization increases our knowledge about hydroponics and catfish cultivation. Moreover, there are interesting programs such as communal spice pots (potkobu). So, housewives can make good use of their home land."

IPB University Innovation KKN-T Coordinator at this location, Rafi Sahar, explained that Bondongan Urban Farming is a work program designed by combining three main activities of urban agriculture, namely hydroponics, aquaponics or fish farming in buckets (budikdamber) and a living garden. These three programs are running hand in hand. There are also several hydroponic installations that are integrated with aquaponics.

As for potkobu, Rafi said, it is a pot containing various spice plants. This family-scale potkobu aims to create self-sufficiency in spices and medicinal plants on a family scale.

"We raised this topic because the concept of urban farming is very relevant to the situation in Bondongan Village. From the enthusiasm of the participants, we hope they can start consuming healthy and safe food from their own production," Rafi explained.

He added that this work program is also aligned with the Bogorku Bersih competition which will be held in the near future. In Bondongan Village itself, there are several citizens associations (RW) that will participate in this competition, one of which is RW 18. (Aulia S/Rz) (IAAS/MKY)