The Community Partnership Program (PKM) of Warmadewa University once again held Community Service in Kusamba Village, Dawan District, Klungkung Regency. The head of the Unwar PKM team, Dr. Drs. I Wayan Gde Sarmawa, MM, said that this PKM with the theme "Increasing Salt Farmer Productivity", seeks to find solutions to the problems faced by salt farmers in Kusamba Village. Together with PKM Team members Dr. Ida Bagus Udayana, SE., MM., and Drs. I Nyoman Senimantara M.Si., Sarmawa tried to identify the problems faced by the remaining salt farmers in Kusamba Village. "Salt made by salt farmers in Kusamba Village is quite well-known and the price is relatively higher than salt farmers in other areas. However, the number of salt farmers continues to decrease, we are trying to find out the cause and find a solution," said Sarmawa. Sarmawa further said that around the 70s, the number of salt farmers in Kusamba Village was hundreds of people. Over the years, the number continued to decline and finally now there are only 16 salt farmers left. To maintain the existence of salt farmers in Kusamba Village, a salt farmer group was formed called the Sarining Segara Salt Farmers Group. "The formation of this salt farmer group is in the hope of maintaining salt farmers in Kusamba Village which is local wisdom. With the existence of a salt farmer group, of course there is attention from the government so that they can get various assistance from both the government and the private sector for business development," he said. Sarmawa explained that from the identification results, it was known that the problem faced by salt farmers in Kusamba Village was the low quantity and quality of salt produced by farmers. "This problem is because the salt processing process is still carried out traditionally. So that the salt produced with salt quality is 96% NaCl content," he said. With the traditional salt-making process in one process, a farmer can produce around 10-15 kg of salt. The salt-making process itself takes 3 days. So in three days farmers can get a gross income of around Rp200 thousand - Rp300 thousand. To overcome this problem, PKM Unwar provides the easiest solution for farmers, namely by using geomembrane in the process of drying seawater. "By using geomembrane, the salt produced becomes cleaner and more, and the NaCl is higher. We target NaCl to reach 99%," he said. However, Sarmawa hopes that in the future, the government can provide technological assistance that can further increase salt production so that salt prices can be more competitive. With the increasing competitiveness, interest in Kusamba salt will also increase. Kusamba Village Head, I Nengah Sumadi welcomed the community service activities carried out by PKM Unwar. He hopes that there will be a continuation of activities to increase the productivity of salt farmers, so that the welfare of farmers will increase.
author : Dr. Drs. I Wayan Gde Sarmawa, MM
