Saturday, 7 December 2024, the Food Technology Study Program Lecturers Team of Institut Teknologi Sumatera conducted a community service activity in the Kelompok Wanita Tani (KWT) Ulet, Sidomulyo Subdistrict, Lampung Selatan Regency. The lecturers team consisted of Ilham Marvie, Amalia Wahyuningtyas, Yosi Syafitri, Muhammad risky Ramanda and Lita Lianti and involved several Food Technology Study Program students of ITERA. KWT ULET has a business that produces nata de coco that is processed traditionally using coconut water from old kopra as its main raw material. Generally, that coconut water is obtained from South Lampung, Pesawaran and East Lampung. One of the processes in making nata de coco is the addition of additional NA or ZA as a nitrogen source. Some MSMEs add urea fertilizer that is not safe to consume. In addition, the Nata MSME is also having difficulty obtaining coconut raw material because of weather conditions and increasing demand for whole coconut exports.
Based on that condition, the ITERA community service team provided training on Nata de Coco Production with Molasses and Soybean Sprouts for Increasing Productivity and Food Safety. This activity was attended by 10 members of KWT ULET. This training was also a dissemination of the results of research by Food Technology Study Program students and lecturers that developed nata formulation from various alternative raw material sources and alternative nitrogen sources. Several simple publications and patents were produced from that research and are expected to be implemented in the community through this activity
Lita Lianti, who is the coordinator of the Food Technology Study Program at ITERA, stated that she hopes that the nata production assistance activity at KWT ULET, which has continued for up to 2 years, will continue and further increase the benefits for ITERA and the community. Ja’farudin, who is the chairman of KWT ULET, also welcomed all innovations developed by ITERA to produce nata so that it becomes a leading product of Lampung Province. KWT ULET also committed to help ITERA lecturers and students who want to develop Nata de coco production.
This activity is one of the programs funded by ITERA in the 2024 PKM Grant with the expert service scheme. Hopefully, there will be more PKM programs that are a dissemination of food research conducted by the Food Technology Study Program to realize ITERA for Sumatra (ILM).
