In order to produce qualified and competent human resources in agriculture, Widya Erti Indonesia (WEI) visited by Yogyakarta Magelang Polytechnic of Agricultural Development for Internship Program on June 5th – 8th 2022. Located in Pangandaran Regency, West Java, this Internship Program, which was attended by lecturers and education staff, aims to attract younger generation interest on entrepreneurship and engage in several professions in agricultural field.
Series of visit agendas were carried out in order to strengthen the education and increase the professionalism of participants in this Internship Program. These visit agendas including visits to farmer groups alumni of Sekolah Lapang Kelapa Nira (Coconut Sap Field School) under the guidance of Widya Erti Indonesia, Kebun Percontohan Kelapa Genjah in Krapyak, and compost house managed by coconut sap farmers.
Learning process in this Internship Program equipped with discussion agenda that related to: strategy of empowerment and independence of Pangandaran coconut sap farmers through a good and environmentally friendly agriculture practice. Through this discussion agenda, it was explained about dynamics portrait of Sekolah Lapang Kelapa Nira (Coconut Sap Field School), starting from how to form farmer groups, up to how to maintain the sustainability of good agricultural practices after Sekolah Lapang Kelapa Nira program implementation.
Other than that, Internship Program participants also get the opportunity to see firsthandedly the process of how Sekolah Lapang Kelapa Nira (Coconut Sap Field School) is running, discussing topics, exchanging opinions, and field observations that followed by group discussion sessions and presentations which produce a conclusion about how to take decisions and actions in increasing the productivity of a better sap.
“The lecturers in the internship group and I are very happy to be able to studying about Sekolah Lapang Kelapa Nira (Coconut Sap Field School), to see firsthandedly how the coconut farmers learn to improve their knowledge, attitudes, and skills in better coconut sap cultivating, so they can improve sap production which led to improve the welfare of the community.” said Mr. Sukadi, S.ST, M.Si, Head of the Sustainable Agricultural Extension Study Program at the Yogyakarta Magelang Polytechnic of Agricultural Development.
Another memorable experience that was presented by Widya Erti Indonesia was inviting the Internship Program participants to see firsthandedly the process of sap cooking through production kitchen observation. In this activity, the participants learned a lot about the process of sap cooking, the fuel used, the length of time to cook, up to alternative solutions that can be used to save fuel and speed up the process of sap cooking.
“We hope that Widya Erti Indonesia can help the community even more through other Sekolah Lapang (Field School), so that there will be more farmers that can increase their production continuously.” said Mr. Sukadi giving his hope regarding the Internship program that carried out with Widya Erti Indonesia.