Covid-19  caused people to carry out activities at home. One of the activities that the community can do to support their daily food needs is to plant crops and raise fish. However, limited land conditions make people use the narrow land system farming method. The existing approach has several weaknesses, including the manual watering process, still using chemical fertilizers or pesticides, consuming a lot of energy or time, and the lack of technological innovation that is applied so that it is less attractive to do by the community. This is what underlies a group of UNY students to initiate an agricultural system utilizing narrow land and solar energy as a water supplier in a hydroponic system. They are Khakam Ma'ruf, Assadullah Al Kafah Alam, and Muhammad Yusri Dzal Yahya from the Mechanical Engineering Education Study Program, Riza Alfiyatun from the Chemical Engineering Study Program, and Verlenda Sarma Qur'aini from the Electronic Engineering Study Program.

According to Khakam Ma'ruf, this agricultural system uses the principle of hydroponics as a planting medium, integrated with fish ponds under hydroponics so that it is easy to apply on limited land. "We call this system My Farm," he said. My Farm utilizes solar energy as a water supplier in hydroponics. At the bottom of My Farm, there is a fish pond and at the top is a hydroponic growing medium. In the system, water from under the fish pond will be circulated to the plants as a watering system. In addition, My Farm utilizes natural fertilizer from filtered fish manure to utilize fish manure and does not interfere with fish growth. Assadullah Al Kafah Alam added, in addition to hydroponics, this system also develops aquaculture as well as a filtration system for water treatment. "My Farm is also equipped with a monitoring system with the Internet of Things (IoT) such as monitoring pH, water temperature and dissolved oxygen levels so that it has good water quality," he said.

Muhammad Yusri Dzal Yahya explained the working principle of My Farm, namely by making a simple agricultural concept that utilizes narrow land around the residence. My Farm is a combination of vegetable growing media using hydroponic media integrated with fish ponds by using solar energy as a substitute and alternative fuel used. Compared to the usual hydroponic method, with the innovation of using IoT, My Farm has the advantage that it can be managed using a smartphone. Such as checking and providing plant nutrition, feeding, and checking stored energy make My Farm easy for the community to use. In addition, My Farm also does not make users bother cleaning the pool because it is conceptualized to have an automatic dirt filter and has a sonar bloom so that it stimulates plants to thrive. Through My Farm, the community can fulfill their food needs with minimal land and is practical and economical. This idea won a gold medal in the World Youth Invention and Innovation Award (WYIIA), which was held by the Indonesian Young Scientist Association (IYSA) recently. This work is following UNY's efforts in the sustainable development agenda in quality education, overcoming hunger, and maintaining water ecosystems. (Dedy, ts-Vannya)

Source Link : https://www.uny.ac.id/berita/my-farm-padukan-sistem-pertanian-lahan-sempit-dan-kolam-ikan