The Community Empowerment Team of Universitas Slamet Riyadi provided training to KOMPAK Peasant group (Kelompok Tani KOMPAK) in Porang Paring Village, Sukolilo, Pati. The Dean of Food Technology and Industry (FATIPA), Dr. Nanik Suhartatik, S.TP, M.P hoped that there would be successful food industry in Porang Paring after the “Community Empowerment Training in Porang Paring through Post-Harvest Management of Horticulture and Fruit” training in collaboration with Yayasan YAPHI.

KOMPAK attended training on how to make breadfruit steak and fermented breadfruit sweet snacks, with FATIPA students. The team also evaluated food products already made by the peasants – such as banana crackers, papaya crackers, and coconut sweet snacks, and gave inputs on taste, presentation, and packaging.
At the same training, the head of Management Master Degree Study of Unisri, Edi Wibowo, S.E, M.M provided an initial training on marketing management, because he thought there were marketing techniques that peasants had to know. He hoped that the final products could be sold in the market. Hence, peasants had to think about what products they wished to make and what market they wished to target – i.e. general public, or specifically for young people and children. There were opportunities in all these market segments.

The second related to which market, and whose products? For example, products that are suited for visitors – i.e. sweet snacks (Geplak). These were specific products from certain areas. So where would peasants market their products? Whether they want their products to be qualitatively inferior or superior to existing products? They would take a look at all of that, including shapes and colours. They may create distinctive products that defied current trend. They could experiment with, for example, shapes (round, long) to take their products distinctive.

They also had to carefully consider quality, packaging, for example by using attractive labels that the sweet snacks was a true product of Porang Paring Village. They also had to reflect on the prices – that it was sufficiently inexpensive and tasted nice, yet at the same time not to be inclined to set a too-low price on their products. The price(s) had to be competitive with similar products. This was critical as fluctuation in raw material prices happened, and prices had to adjust. People would buy expensive products as long as they tasted good. Edi Wibowo emphasized that taste mattered most in the culinary business. People would always try to find nice-tasting products.

The last issue to emphasise was that the raw materials had to be superior, that use of natural sweetener was critical, and that marketing had to make use of online and off-line media strategy.

In closing before the cooking practice, Dr. Merkuria Karyantina, S.P, M.P cautioned that product develpment did not necesssarily mean that final product would be obtained in one go. There was a need to re-try and to re-modify and re-model until producers obtained the satisfactory product(s). This was what the team did and experienced. She appreciated new ideas from the peasants – papapa crackers – which must undergo evaluation to reduce oil use. (Astuti)