
InfoSAWIT, LAMPUNG TENGAH – Students from the Community Service Program (KKN) of Universitas Lampung (Unila) for the first period of 2025 held a socialization and training event on the utilization of palm oil waste as natural pesticides based on plant materials and local microorganisms. This event took place in Sumbersari Village, Padang Ratu District, Central Lampung, on Saturday, January 25, 2025.
The socialization was prompted by crop failures due to palm pests that have affected 1.5 hectares of land in the village over the past few years. The KKN students collaborated with village officials and lecturers from the Chemistry Department of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences (FMIPA) at Unila, who served as resource persons, including Syaiful Bahri, S.Si., M.Si., Dr. Sonny Widiarto, M.Sc., Rinawati, S.Si., M.Si., Ph.D., Dr. Yuli Ambarwati, S.Si., M.Si., and Devi Nur Anisa, S.Pd., M.Sc.
The KKN group in Sumbersari, consisting of Prabu Sriwijaya Soedjadi, Andi Kurniawan, Sherina Rachmadani, Dela Sylviayani, Gustina Wulan Sari, Bulan Surya Ramadhani, and M. Azizan Habibi, under the guidance of lecturer Ubaidai, M.T., proposed a work program to assist palm oil farmers in combating the Oryctes rhinoceros pest. One of the solutions is the cultivation of the Metarhizium anisopliae fungus as a biological pest control agent.
During the socialization, participants were invited to understand the role of fluctuating water pH due to high rainfall and its impact on palm plant metabolism. To address this issue, the students demonstrated how to create organic fertilizers from liquid palm waste, sambiloto leaves, bintaro fruit, tobacco, and papaya leaves. Research from the Chemistry Department at FMIPA Unila indicates that this fertilizer can yield effective results within the next eight months.
Additionally, the students demonstrated how to make natural pesticides using cigarette butts. The burnt butts were collected and soaked in hot water at a dilution ratio of 1:15 to produce a pesticide solution that could help increase palm production after fertilization.
Prabu Sriwijaya Soedjadi stated that this activity aims to enhance the production of palm plants and other commodities in Sumbersari Village, such as cassava, eggplant, chili, and papaya. “We hope the community can utilize the knowledge gained and become more self-sufficient in producing organic fertilizers and pesticides to reduce the side effects of chemical use,” he said in an official statement reported by InfoSAWIT on Tuesday, February 4, 2025.
As a follow-up to this activity, the KKN students will conduct periodic monitoring of the land that has been treated with pesticides and organic fertilizers over the next eight months. This monitoring will be coordinated with the Head of Sumbersari Village to ensure the effectiveness of the introduced methods.
Through this socialization, it is hoped that farmers will become more aware of the benefits of natural fertilizers and pesticides and be able to reduce their dependence on chemicals that can damage agricultural land in the long term. (T2)