The Indonesia Building Inspiration Foundation (YIIM) together with PT Pertamina Training and Consulting are always committed to supporting strengthening community independence through a series of inclusive and sustainable empowerment initiatives.

People have recently chosen farming using a hydroponic system to ward off boredom while staying at home during the Covid-19 pandemic. Apart from not requiring soil, business opportunities also open up from hydroponic plants.

Reflecting on this, PT Pertamina Training and Consulting collaborated with the Indonesian Building Inspiration Foundation (YIIM) to hold hydroponic training for the people of the Jabodetabek area with economic criteria affected by Covid-19, groups of housewives, people with disabilities who do not have jobs, those who have dropped out of work, former prison residents, young people who have dropped out of school, and underprivileged families.

Ast. PT Pertamina Training and Consulting Corporate Communication & CSR Manager Olivia Steffinda Lasut said the training was to equip people to achieve family economic independence through entrepreneurship. Hydroponic training was chosen as one of the social entrepreneurship trainings as an implementation of the use of small land as urban agriculture and as an effort to reduce carbon emissions from households and the surrounding environment.

He said that 17 people were selected as participants through a series of selection processes. “Online hydroponic participants receive planting media equipment as a form of hands-on practice and are monitored continuously until harvest time. The hydroponic plants sown are mustard seeds, lettuce, kale and spinach,” he said, Thursday (14/10).

He added that the Covid-19 pandemic, which has been around for almost two years, has hit all sectors hard. In fact, the psychology of the residents was also shaken. It is hoped that with hydroponic training, residents can pass on the knowledge that has been given so that greenery can be created in each settlement.

In this series of programs, PTC and YIIM have distributed installations of hydroponic planting media and vegetable seeds to the communities supported by Sanggar DayaHumanity as many as 5 installation units. Then in the next stage, 5 installations and seeds will be distributed each to 4 other communities, namely the reading park community for residents of Rumpin Bogor village, the street children community assisted by the Pertiwi Child Development Foundation – Pasar Minggu, the Indonesian Mandiri Disabled Foundation and the community of underprivileged residents assisted by the Future Generation Creative House in Ciputat. As well as 5 installations and vegetable seeds each for 3 individual general participants outside the selected communities to receive assistance.

So in total there will be 40 hydroponic planting media installation assistance for 5 communities which will be handed over by PTC and YIIM as capital infrastructure assistance for businesses growing healthy vegetables. The five communities have participated in the entire series of training and practices for growing healthy hydroponic vegetables.

Training in hydroponic methods will foster a positive and productive hobby. In the future, this hydroponic training will be implemented in a sustainable manner with an impact on results that will not only be completed during the planting and harvest period, but will also begin the formation of assisted MSMEs with diversification of processed hydroponic products to hydroponic souvenirs with local market share and e-commerce.

Hydroponics Actor

Not wanting to remain silent during the Covid-19 pandemic, Sofyan and his six friends looked for ways to be productive. The goal is that they can continue to produce something even in difficult conditions.

Not long after, an idea emerged in the minds of the congregation at the Baitussalam Mosque, West Jakarta. Due to the large number of unemployed people, the Mosque Prosperity Council (DKM) was finally formed. They then invited residents to Dare to Change by farming using a hydroponic system.

“MB Farm started at the beginning of the pandemic, around March 2020, MB Farm was formed. We, the farmers, supported by the Chairman of the DKM, created a hydroponic system on the rooftop of the Baitussalam Mosque,” explained Sofyan to the Dare to Change Team.

“At first we didn’t have any knowledge or anything, we learned manually from YouTube, from the media, from sharing with friends, that’s all,” he continued.

Sofyan himself acts as Chairman of the Baitussalam Farm Mosque Group. He arranged for 15 farmers to take turns caring for the hydroponic plants. They can also harvest up to 30 kilograms.

However, not only to increase income, but also to fill time. Sofyan and his friends came together to realize this idea so that the mosque congregation would have activities to keep themselves busy.

“Yes, one of the benefits is that we are looking for experience, seeking knowledge from the congregation for the hydroponic business, for hydroponic empowerment. So one of the benefits is also that the results from this are for us to contribute to mosques,” he said. [rhm]

Through this synergy and initiative, the Indonesian Inspiration for Building Foundation (YIIM) hopes that the programs implemented can provide real benefits, open up wider opportunities for independence for participants, and actively contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

*Inspiration Greetings!*