The community service program in Klayar Hamlet, Kedung Poh Village, Gunung Kidul Regency is one of the Independent Learning Community Service programs for the Faculty of Biology in 2021. This activity is a follow-up program from the first period of service program in 2020, which is the production and application of biofertilizers for cayenne pepper commodities. The second period carries the theme of developing organic chrysanthemum cultivation as a form of enrichment for tourist spots in Klayar Ecotourism and as a basic ingredient for food diversification in the form of chrysanthemum tea and chrysanthemum leaf chips.
The Tourism Village itself provides various facilities such as an outbound arena, camping grounds, fishing grounds and beautified restaurants as well as gazebos around it. Judging from this potential, this location was chosen as a partner village for the development of tourist spots and the use of chrysanthemum as a basic food ingredient, especially for tourist souvenirs.
The Community Service Team has provided socialization on Thursday, 2 July 2022 in Klayar Hamlet with the target of the Klayar Village Women Farmers Group. The socialization activity was carried out for approximately 2 hours from 10.00-12.00 WIB. During the socialization, the team provided procedures for cultivating organic chrysanthemums and making tea and chrysanthemum leaf chips. Members of the Women Farmers group were also taught about how to make and apply biofertilizers to chrysanthemum plants.
The Klayar Village Women’s Farmers Group gained high enthusiasm during the socialization. They were given the opportunity to get to know examples of processed chrysanthemum products such as chrysanthemum flower tea and chrysanthemum leaf chips so that these plants are no longer known as mere picking flowers with artificial value. This group was also given the opportunity to brew and taste tea made from chrysanthemums and the various benefits provided by consuming this preparation. Chrysanthemum was chosen as a plant used for the development of tourist spots and food diversification because it has a fairly high economic value. Through this program, chrysanthemums are not only known for their aesthetic aspects, but also substantially for their therapeutic and medicinal values. The development of the chrysanthemum plant itself aims to expand its potential apart from the aesthetic side, such as processed food with high economic value and nutrition. Chrysanthemum leaves and flowers have great potential to be processed into other snacks such as candy, chips and instant drinks.
In addition to introducing the potential of chrysanthemum, during the socialization KWT Klayar members were invited to get to know the benefits of biofertilizers in plants. Farmer census data in 2013 from the Central Statistics Agency states that 86.41 percent of Indonesian farmers still use inorganic fertilizers. This organic chrysanthemum cultivation targets commodities to have better quality and strong competition in the market hence special treatment is needed. The addition of biofertilizer is intended to increase soil fertility, increase plant productivity, increase plant growth and development, and also increase plant health. Organic chrysanthemum plants with good quality are safer to be processed as food because in organic chrysanthemum there is no accumulation of harmful chemicals. Besides that, it can also increase the economic value of chrysanthemum plants. Furthermore, the Head of the Independent Learning Community Service Faculty of Biology Team to Hamlet Klayar stated that biofertilizer is present in the midst of marginal farmers to reduce their production costs as well as improve agricultural land.