Unsri Faculty Member’s Innovation: Optimizing Urban Agriculture Through the “3-in-1” Model

Faculty members at Sriwijaya University (Unsri) in Palembang continue to strive to develop and optimize urban agriculture in the capital city of South Sumatra Province in order to improve the community’s food security through a “3-in-1” approach—three activities on a single plot of land. Development in Palembang has resulted in increasingly limited land available for agricultural cultivation; therefore, it is necessary toaddressed by optimizing the available land for urban farming, said Unsri professor Benyamin Lakitan in Palembang on Tuesday, May 24. The current approach to optimizing limited urban land for farming involves integrating multiple activities into a single plot. Initially, limited backyard spaces were utilized for fish farming and the cultivation of various types of vegetables and medicinal plants. Subsequently, the activities were expanded by using a portion of the land—specifically the fish pond—for the cultivation of catfish, tilapia, and betok, while the area above the pond was also utilized for growing vegetables, medicinal plants, herbs, and chili peppers using floating raft technology that incorporates used bottles and bamboo, which can easily found in residential areas. This urban farming initiative is now being developed as a “3-in-1” system—that is, the plot with the fish pond is used for fish farming, while the space above it is utilized for growing vegetables and chili peppers using floating raft technology. By employing a trellis framework, the space can also be used to cultivate such as oyong and fruits like grapes and melons, which grow by climbing. Through the optimization of this urban agricultural land, he said, it is hoped that even limited land can still produce food to the maximum extent possible to meet the daily needs of the community—and can even be sold to neighbors and at markets as a family side business. Urban residents are encouraged to develop “3-in-1” agricultural systems in their backyards—even on limited space—by creating fish ponds and growing various types of vegetables and other useful plants on top of them, he explained. Through the development of urban agriculture, it is hoped that the community can reduce its dependence on food supplies from outside the region, whose prices can spike under certain conditions, said the from Unsri, who previously served as Head of the South Sumatra Regional Development Planning Agency (Bappeda) in 1998 and as Secretary of the Ministry of Research and Technology in 2007. Earlier, South Sumatra Deputy Governor Mawardi Yahya urged all parties and segments of society to undertake various activities that can increase food production to achieve food self-sufficiency. “To boost food production, we must pursue intensificationor expanding agricultural areas by utilizing fallow or unproductive land, as well as optimizing land use,” he said. Additionally, the South Sumatra Provincial Government is encouraging the public to implement food self-sufficiency programs by utilizing residential yards to grow vegetables and fruits, as well as raising livestock. “We have the ‘South Sumatra Food Self-Sufficiency Movement’ program, which is expected to serve as a catalyst for the community to engage in various activities that can produce food to meet their daily needs, said Deputy Governor Mawardi