The Aquaculture Student Association (Himakua), Faculty of Fisheries and Marine Sciences (FPIK) IPB University recently held a community service program through pond revitalization activities in Purwasari Village, Dramaga District, Bogor, West Java. This activity is part of the Student Organization Capacity Building Program (PPK Ormawa).

Seeing the great potential of aquaculture in Purwasari Village, this activity involved the local Millennial Farmer Youth Group and the local Women Farmers Group (KWT). Also present were Yusup Mustopa (Head of Purwasari Village), Didin Syafrudin (Advisor for Millennial Tani Taruna) and Sarnata (Chairman of the Community Association).

“This program aims as an effort to restore the community’s economy after the pandemic, by utilizing monosex tilapia cultivation technology and innovation in processing tilapia fillets. It is hoped that it can reduce the unemployment rate of people affected by COVID-19 and make Purwasari Village a production center for tilapia cultivation,” said Bintang Blueuardi, a student of IPB University.

The head of the PPK Ormawa Himakua Team said the pool revitalization was carried out in stages over four days. Pool revitalization begins with pool cleaning. The removal of wild plants is carried out both those that fill the pond and wild plants that grow around it. Residents helped to dry the pond by opening and closing the outlet of the irrigation channel.

Mutual cooperation between IPB University students and residents is closely related to dredging and distributing the mud at the bottom of the pond. The goal is to reduce the organic matter content at the bottom of the pond from previous cultivation activities, either in the form of leftover feed deposits or fish feces. Furthermore, liming the soil to kill pests and pathogens.

“After that, the leaking pool wall was patched using bamboo and sacks as support. This activity uses three pools which are a type of concrete pool. The revitalization of this pool is the first step in a series of PPK Ormawa Himakua programs through the use of sex reversal technology in Purwasari Village,” concluded Bintang.

Yusup Mustopa, Head of Purwasari Village, in his speech hoped that this program can be sustainable so that the community has added value and opens new markets for the villagers. (*/Rz) IAAS/ELS