On Sunday, 8th October 2023, the Pengabdian kepada Masyarakat – Merdeka Belajar Kampus Merdeka (PkM-MBKM) Faculty of Biology, UGM 2023, 5 undergraduate students of Faculty of Biology, UGM class of 2020, namely Arba’ Ramadhani Artik, Arneta Yuvita, Ester Dewanti Yovita Wardani, Fadiah Sri Rahayu, and Zidni Meirizka Utami supervised by Dr. Ardaning Nuriliani, S.Si., M.Kes. and Ms. Nurini Aru Sudarsi as the partner mentor have carried out the socialization activities to the residents in Pajangan, Wedomartani Village, Ngemplak, Sleman, Yogyakarta. The theme of the socialization was “Improving the Community’s through Optimizing of Vacant Land”. This program aims to engage the community to improve the economic condition of the family by utilizing vacant land in the yard area of the house to plant vegetables, fruits, herbs, and several medicine and functional plants or also called “TOGA”. In this activity, we invited Mr. Panggih Dwi Atmojo, S.T. as a speaker. He is an alumnus of the Faculty of Engineering, UGM who is currently active as an agro economic practitioner as well as the founder and owner of Agro Edukasi Caping Merapi Yogyakarta which is located at Kenayan, Wedomartani, Ngemplak, Sleman Regency, Yogyakarta Special Region. The given presentation discussed topics about food gardening, including vegetable garden cultivation, as well as rising fish, chickens, and other small livestock to meet daily food needs. He also discussed about urban farming, which is the method of farming in the city or on limited land. In addition, the speaker also emphasized that the use of vacant land as a food garden can provide various other benefits, such as the community can provide traditional medicine independently, add decoration to the garden, provide refreshing activities through gardening, obtain healthier food that is free from chemical fertilizers, and produce biofertilizer which can be obtained through composting, eco lindi, and manure systems. This can also serve to overcome the problem of handling organic waste.
This socialization was attended by around 20 residents and received a very positive response, even some residents were very enthusiastic and directly involved in the discussion session together with the speakers.