UNAIR NEWS – The Student Executive Board (BEM) of Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB) Universitas Airlangga (UNAIR) held a national seminar entitled “How to Prevent Food Scarcity in Urban Areas during the Covid-19 Pandemic” on Friday, November 19, 2021. The seminar presented Dedhy Trunoyudho as CEO of Garda Pangan, Kukuh Roxa as CEO of Pandawa Agri Indonesia, and Budi Rahardjo as Agriculture Manager of Sustainable Development Danone Indonesia.
The CEO of Garda Pangan explained the general condition of food security amid the pandemic. Dedhy mentioned that excess food potential has shifted from the urban area to the village after the pandemic. The shift has happened because PPKM (Public Activity Restriction) prevents the supply of food ingredients to the city. As a result, the agricultural sector fell, and farmers suffered losses because many agricultural products have not been able to make them earn a living.
Furthermore, Dedhy conveyed alternative food security solutions that can be done. Among them are urban farming with multicultural cropping patterns, local food diversification, food supply chain optimization, and food import reduction.
“The issue of food security is very urgent because it is not impossible that a problem like the pandemic can reoccur in the future. Solutions that can be offered include urban farming, where people grow plants that can be consumed by themselves. In other words, we should not just plant one type of crop but a multicultural cropping pattern,” he explained.
Then Budi explained about adaptive agriculture in urban areas in terms of the physical, geographical, and human resources. Agriculture in urban areas can be done using hydroponic methods, vertical gardens, rooftop gardens, aquaponics, and raised beds. The methods can be applied on a small scale (family farm) and a community scale (community farm).
“Agriculture that is adaptive for urban areas is like small-scale agriculture, agricultural practices that can be carried out on 10 square meters of land or maybe only on a small scale of five meters. Even though the scale is small, it is still highly productive (high yield) with various systems and, of course, artistic aspects,” he explained.
At the end of his presentation, Budi explained family farming, which is farming activities run by the family. Important commodities in the family farm include chili, vegetables, onions, and empon-empon (herbs and spices). Budi also explained that community farming is a joint gardening activity using public or social facilities. Community farming aims to meet the food needs of residents in one community.
“Family farm is basically how the family can fulfill some of the food needs, especially vegetables. But apart from family farms, there are also community farms where a group of people make gardens together, possibly done in urban areas, in public health facilities, in social facilities, or in non-individual properties,” he explained. (*)
Author: Wiji Astutik
Editor: Binti Q. Masruroh
