Minamaterik, Fertilizer Developed by FMIPA UI as an Effort to Improve Milkfish Yields in Pantai Bahagia Village

Community Service Team (Pengmas) of the Department of Biology, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Indonesia (FMIPA UI) consisting of Dimas Haryo Pradana, M.Si., Dr. Retno Lestari, M.Si., Dr. rer. nat. Mufti Petala Patria, M.Sc, and eight student members were present in person at Pantai Bahagia Village, Muara Gembong District, Bekasi Regency on Monday, June 20, 2022.

The presence of the team at the location is to help milkfish farmers. (Chanos chanos  Forsk.) in maximizing pond yields through minametric innovation.

Minametri is an innovation created by four lecturers from the University of Indonesia with properties as a fertilizer, supplement, and medicine to prevent disease in fish and shrimp.

This community service program collaborates with the Pandu Cendekia Foundation, and receives funding support from the Directorate of Community Service and Empowerment, University of Indonesia (DPPM UI).

Team leader, Dimas, said this activity followed the success of a program with similar innovations in tiger shrimp ponds. (Penaeus monodon) which the team conducted from June to September 2020 at the same location.

"Minametric fertilizer and semi-intensive pond systems in tiger prawn cultivation in 2020 succeeded in solving the problems of farmers in Muara Bahagia Village by increasing tiger prawn productivity, thereby increasing the community's economic wheels amid the COVID-19 pandemic," said Dimas to the FMIPA UI Public Relations team.

"We designed the pond semi-intensively, where on the edge of the pond we form a wall but the bottom remains soil. So we provide nutrients to the soil and the milkfish itself," said Dimas explaining the minametric method in milkfish ponds.

The team hopes that this program can also be successful as previously done in tiger shrimp ponds. The superior quality of pond results and increased harvest quantities can certainly boost the economy of pond farmers.

Meanwhile, the majority of people in Pantai Bahagia Village work as open sea fishermen and shrimp farmers, so they depend on the sea and shrimp ponds for their livelihood.

Milkfish (Chanos chanos Forsk.) is one type of fish that lives in brackish water and is chosen by people to be farmed because of its adaptable nature and high nutritional content.

Therefore, through this community service program, it is hoped that it will become a means of education and introduction to milkfish cultivation techniques with a semi-intensive system and using minametric fertilizers so that it can increase productivity and support the local economy.

Mahmud, as one of the farmers in Pantai Bahagia Village, admitted that the recent milkfish harvest was less than satisfactory because the harvest did not reach the target.

"The target of releasing 100% of the fry yesterday we tried to release 17,000, the target was at least 10,000, around 80%. But the result was only around 60% with 8,000-10,000 live fish," he said.

According to Mahmud, the less than optimal harvest was caused by weather factors and less than suitable natural feed, both in terms of market price and quality. However, thanks to the socialization of minametric ponds carried out by the FMIPA UI community service team, the harvest results began to increase rapidly and optimally.

Mahmud also explained that the current feed price has increased from the original Rp210,000 per sack, now Rp235,000 per sack. This is certainly a challenge in terms of the economic capacity of pond farmers, so that the provision of feed per hectare which can usually be given 200 sacks to 300 sacks per hectare must be reduced.

“We need support especially from the government itself, the current feed prices are no longer normal." Mahmud continued.

News source : https://sci.ui.ac.id/