Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Existing limitations often become obstacles for society in producing work. However, this does not mean stopping the will and enthusiasm to turn limitations into benefits.
One of them can be seen from the story of the Bendan Ngisor farmer group or Poktan Bensor in Bendan Ngisor Village, Gajahmungkur District, Semarang City. Thanks to BRI’s support through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) or BRI Cares, through BRI Bertani in Kota (BRInita), people in the area are able to produce vegetables on limited land. From limited land, they are able to produce superior herbal tea products which are used as profit addition.
As told by Subroto, Chair of the Bensor Poktan, residents have been carrying out this farming activity since 2018. They use the residents’ gardens to grow vegetables for their daily needs. However, at that time farming activities were still carried out conventionally.
In early 2023, BRI Peduli distributed the BRINita program to Poktan Bensor. In this program, BRI provides education about farming on narrow land or urban farming. Not only that, BRI also provides infrastructure assistance such as green houses and other facilities and infrastructure.
The planting methods used are quite varied, namely hydroponics and aquaponics. The plants produced include lettuce, red spinach, kale, pokcoy, eggplant, spinach and chilies as well as empon-empon plants which are healthy plants because they do not contain pesticides.
Every time the harvest time arrives, the members of Poktan Bensor always carry out the harvest process with enthusiasm and enthusiasm. This is because the vegetables that are harvested can be used to meet the needs of members and other communities. If the production is excessive, it can also be marketed abroad, thereby providing additional income for the community.
Herbal Tea, a Superior Product That Generates Profit
Apart from saturan plants, Urban Farming Poktan Bensor also has other superior products which are a source of profit. This product is a telang flower plant which is processed from planting to drying until it becomes a dried flower. Furthermore, the dried butterfly pea flowers are processed into butterfly pea tea and marketed as herbal tea.
Subroto also hopes that this program can continue to be sustainable and consistently maintained by the local community.
“This program is of course very useful. We, Poktan Bensor, want to invite and introduce urban farming to the wider community,” he explained.
Urban farming activities carried out by Poktan Bensor also receive assistance from the Semarang City Agriculture Service. Sunarti, who acts as a field agricultural instructor from the Semarang City Agriculture Service, considers urban farming to be the right solution for the limited land available. “As a field instructor for the Semarang City Agriculture Service, I hope that this program will always be sustainable until it is successful,” he said.
BRI Corporate Secretary Agustya Hendy Bernadi revealed that BRI continues to realize its commitment to social and environmental responsibility through programs that can actually encourage the improvement of the environmental ecosystem. The BRInita program is one of BRI’s real commitments to preserving the environment in the city center which utilizes narrow land in densely populated areas.
“This program is not only carried out at one point, but is spread across 21 points throughout Indonesia. With the infrastructure assistance that we provide, it is hoped that this program will continue to run continuously so that it becomes a positive forum for the community. It is hoped that the inspiring story shown by Poktan Bensor can imitated by other groups,” stressed Hendy.
[Gambas:Video CNBC]
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