Increasing Capacity in Processing Superior Local Products in Maron River Ecokarst

Abstract

According to information obtained from this service activity, 80% of the people of Dersono Village work as farmers. The location of Dersono Village is included in the Gunungsewu Karst, which is known as a barren area. So, it is difficult for people to get maximum harvests, and this has an impact on people's economic standard of living. In the middle of the Karst area, Dersono Village has the potential for the Maron River to be developed as a tourist attraction and become a source of the community's economy. On the other hand, Dersono Village has the potential for local commodities that can become superior products, namely coconuts. The potential for coconut in Dersono Village has yet to be developed, only selling it as raw coconut to collectors (intermediaries) or at the Maron River tourist destination. The potential of this local coconut commodity can be developed as a superior processed product that can become a unique, distinctive souvenir and has more excellent selling value. To manage the existing potential, adequate human resource skills are needed, one of which is through training in processing local products with economic value and activity in marketing processed local products. The training begins with material delivery and continues with direct practice with the community (PKK) to indicate training achievement. A pre-test and post-test were conducted on managing MSMEs, making and packaging coconut oil, and blondo product marketing. Results are categorized on a scale of very low, low, medium, high, and very high understanding. The pre-test results showed 12.9% low, 48.4% medium, 35.5% high, and 3.2% very high. The post-test results changed significantly, with no low category, a decline in the moderate category to 16.1%, 61.3% in the high class, and 22.6% in the very high category. These results can be interpreted as meaning there has been an increase in community capacity (PKK) after the training.