Fakultas Pertanian UGM dipercaya oleh Pemerintah Daerah Kabupaten Asahan untuk melakukan kerja sama dalam penyusunan dokumen perencanaan pembangunan yang dikemas sebagai dokumen teknokratik Rencana Pembangunan Jangka Menengah Daerah (RJPMD) 2025-2029. Dekan Fakultas Pertanian UGM, Ir. Jaka Widada, M.P., Ph.D., menyatakan bahwa kepercayaan yang diberikan kepada Fakultas Pertanian UGM menjadi bentuk layanan keahlian atas sumber daya yang dimiliki. 

“Kami mengapresiasi Pemda Kabupaten Asahan karena telah memberikan kepercayaan kepada kami untuk bekerja sama dalam penyusunan dokumen perencanaan pembangunan. Fasilitasi ini menjadi bentuk pengabdian fakultas kepada masyarakat dan layanan keahlian atas sumber daya yang dimiliki di perguruan tinggi,” ujar Dekan dalam kegiatan lokakarya pemaparan dokumen pada 6 Juni 2024 di University Club UGM.

Tim Penyusun Dokumen diketuai oleh Prof. Subejo, S.P., M.Sc., Ph.D. yang juga merupakan Wakil Dekan Bidang Penelitian, Pengabdian kepada Masyarakat, dan Kerja Sama Fakultas Pertanian UGM, dengan beberapa anggota seperti Prof. Suadi, S.Pi., M.Agr.Sc., Ph.D., Pratiwi, M.Sc., dan Awaludin Laode, M.Si. Ketua tim, Prof. Subejo, menjelaskan adanya beberapa rekomendasi evaluasi yang perlu diperhatikan, antara lain tingkat kemiskinan dan tingkat pengangguran terbuka. Beliau menambahkan, sumber daya manusia menjadi kunci terpenting dalam kesuksesan pembangunan daerah di masa mendatang, sehingga peningkatan kualitas SDM harus didukung dengan berbagai peningkatan layanan.

“Untuk mencapai kesuksesan pembangunan daerah Kabupaten Asahan di masa mendatang, peningkatan kualitas SDM harus didukung dengan peningkatan layanan pendidikan, ketersediaan dan kecukupan pangan, layanan kesehatan, serta layanan sosial yang lebih baik,” jelas Prof. Subejo. 

Lokakarya pemaparan dokumen teknokratif RPJMD Kabupaten Asahan 2025-2029 dihadiri oleh 80 peserta yang terdiri atas Bupati Kabupaten Asahan, 11 Kepala Organisasi Perangkat Daerah (OPD), 4 kepala bagian sekretariat daerah, para kepala sub bagian, dan staf program dari berbagai OPD di lingkungan Pemda Kabupaten Asahan. Dalam kesempatan tersebut, Bupati Kabupaten Asahan, H. Surya, B.Sc., menyampaikan pentingnya dokumen Teknokratif RJPMD sebagai dokumen yang sangat strategis sebagai acuan dasar penyusunan RPJMD 2025-2029.

“Banyak isu strategis yang perlu direspon, sehingga perencanaan pembangunan daerah sangat diperlukan. Kami mengapresiasi dukungan tim Fakultas Pertanian UGM dalam penyusunan dokumen Teknokratif RPJMD Kabupaten Asahan 2025-2029,” tutur Bupati. 

Fasilitas layanan keahlian oleh Fakultas Pertanian UGM menunjukkan upayanya dalam mencapai tujuan SDG 1: Tanpa Kemiskinan, SDG 2: Tanpa Kelaparan, SDG 3: Kehidupan Sehat dan Sejahtera, SDG 5: Kesetaraan Gender, SDG 8: Pekerjaan Layak dan Pertumbuhan Ekonomi, SDG 9: Industri Inovasi dan Infrastruktur, dan SDG 17: Kemitraan untuk Mencapai Tujuan

Penulis: Hanita Athasari Zain

Editor: Desi Utami

Digital Extension Society for Agriculture Application Universitas Gadjah Mada (Desa Apps UGM) has participated in ICTforAg 2024 annual convening where agrifood system stakeholders, technology experts, and enthusiasts gather to share knowledge, find solutions, and form partnerships to address challenges in agrifood systems across low and middle-income countries. The event was held on 28^th-30^th May 2024 simultanously in 5 countries: New Delhi (India), Nairobi (Kenya), Texcoco (Mexico), Philippines; and Washington DC (USA). It also took place online via Zoom. This becomes a great opportunity to introduce Desa Apps UGM to the global society, specifically concering about digital agriculture that has been burgeoning issues within the last decade.

This year, the annual convening was attended by 314 participants from Asia and Pacific, US, Europe, and Africa with 103 sessions in total. In this occasion, Desa Apps UGM shared about its experience in managing programs related to digital agriculture and developing platform for digital extension. The topic of presentation was “How UGM’s Digital Extension Society for Agriculture Developed A Successful Digital Extension Platform ‘Lentera DESA’ To Smallholder Farmers In Indonesia” delivered by Nurul Trya Wulandari as the Operations Manager of Desa Apps UGM and Anthony Harm Spoor as the expert partner since 2021.

Desa Apps UGM developed an Android-based mobile app ‘Desa Apps’ in 2017 (see: https://desa-apps.ugm.ac.id/). Then, in 2021 with support from PUM (Programma Uitzending Managers) Netherlands Senior Experts and PT. Wijaya Karya, it developed a website-based platform ‘Lentera DESA’ that provides features for online training in agriculture-related topics, including fisheries and animal husbandry (see: https://lenteradesa.id/). Moreover, Desa Apps UGM uses social media to disseminate information and knowledge about research and innovation in agriculture. It aims to help farmers and extension workers grab information in a more efficient way regardless time and geographical boundaries through internet and their devices. Aside from those, it also develops ‘Bincang Desa’ to facilitate interactive discussions among farmers, experts, and extension workers.

Nurul and Harm also talked about Desa Apps UGM’s challenges and strategies within the last 4 years to develop. Partnerships, experts’ support from the university, and using data-generated decisions were keys to keep sustain. Data becomes pivotal, so this organisation uses all information from its platform’s database, social media’s data insight, and other supporting data. In this presentation, they also shared about how Desa Apps UGM introduced a blended learning for agricultural extension combining conventional or field visit and online methods using ‘Lentera DESA’. It was found that field facilitators were key to help farmers adopt digital technology. For further information, the full recorded presentation is accessible via this link: http://ugm.id/ICTforAgDesaAppsUGM.

This collaboration is also a concrete manifestation of the Faculty of Agriculture UGM’s commitment to achieve SDG 2: Zero Hunger, SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production, SDG 14: Life Below Water, SDG 15: Life on Land, and SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals

Reported by: Nurul Trya W.

Micro-credentials (MC) are gaining popularity and competing more with traditional higher education programs, following swift changes in the global job market. To ensure the quality micro-credentials, Institutions should strive to grow and develop their programs to provide more online learning access for the wider community. To achieve this aim, Dr. Dyah Weny Respatie, S.P., M.Si., Vice Dean for Academic and Student Affairs, Faculty of Agriculture UGM along with UGM Vice Rector for Education and Learning UGM, Dean of Faculty of Animal Sciences, Head of Sub-Directorate Academic Studies, and Manager of UGM online attended a Workshop on Building a Common Understanding and Set of Policies for Micro-credentials in Los Banos, Philippine. The workshop was hosted by The Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) on 6-7 May 2024. 

UGM as a core member of SEARCA and University Consortium (UC) took a part as the leader in the Postgraduate Micro-credentials in Food Security and Climate Change (PMC FSCC) together with Kasetsart University, Thailand. The workshop was attended by the delegations from UGM, Institut Pertanian Bogor and Universitas Brawijaya (Indonesia), University of the Philippines Los Banos, Central Luzon State University, and Visayas State University (Philippine), Universiti Malaysia Sabah (Malaysia), Maejo University and Kasetsart University (Thailand). This project aimed to discuss and reach an agreement on how to harmonize the existing university policies in the development and delivery of micro-credentials and was funded by the European Commission ERASMUS+ Capacity Building in Higher Education (CBHE) program. 

Dr. Glenn B. Gregorio, SEARCA Center Director and Head of the UC Secretariat, welcomed all the participations and highlighted the important role of policies to guarantee quality higher education. 

Faculty of Agriculture UGM was actively participating in the workshop as our programs is closely related to the field of Food Security and Climate Change (FSCC), in addition, we are also the members of UC. Dr. Dyah Weny Respatie, S.P., M.Si, Vice Dean for Academic and Student Affairs of Faculty of Agriculture highlighted that the policies in MC among the UC members is linked to our policies including its implementation in our graduate programs. Dyah added that preparation of Micro-credentials for postgraduates will open up the opportunities for our postgraduate students to take international courses and competencies. “The offered module is compatible with our master’s Study Program which can be implemented in the master’s Program curriculum” said Dyah. 

In addition, Prof. Dr. Wening Udasmoro, SS, M.Hum., DEA, UGM Vice Rector for Education and Learning, stated that UGM’s involvement in the PMC FSCC module development is part of implementation of our commitment to provide opportunity for community to access the development of science and technology through learning platforms on ugmonline.id channel. 

UGM as the leader of PMC FSCC module development also delivered a presentation on the survey findings conducted among the project participants during the workshop. The purpose of the survey was to understand about the rules and regulations pertaining to MC in each university. Through this discussion session, a draft report on harmonizing university policies to develop micro-credentials was created. 

The development of the PMC FSCC module will be legitimate contributions from UGM in the implementation of sustainable development goals, especially in SDG 1: No Poverty, SDG 2: Zero Hunger, SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy, SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth, SDG 9: Industry Innovation and Infrastructure, SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities, and SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals. 

Author : Desi Utami