Professor Dr. Ir. Suswati, MP, from the Doctoral Program in Agricultural Sciences at Universitas Medan Area (UMA), along with Sirmas Munthe, ST, MT from the Faculty of Engineering and Arie Kartika, SH, MH from the Faculty of Law, conducted a Community Service Program (PKM) with their partner, the PKK Group of Tanjung Sari Village, led by Mega Ayu Setiawan, located on Jalan Gembira, Dusun IV, Tanjung Sari Village, Batang Kuis District, Deli Serdang.

“This activity represents UMA’s cross-faculty and cross-program dedication to community service in implementing the Tridharma of Higher Education. The service program is funded by the Directorate of Research, Technology, and Community Service under the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology (Kemendikbud Ristek) for 2024, and is scheduled from June through December,” explained PKM Team Leader Prof. Dr. Ir. Suswati, MP, accompanied by team members Sirmas Munthe, ST, MT, and Arie Kartika, SH, MH, along with UMA Agricultural students Rafli Fadillah Lubis and Emmanuel Saputra Halawa.

Prof. Suswati explained that the PKM activities include several initiatives, such as educating participants on microgreen plants as a family food source to help reduce stunting, cultivation techniques accompanied by hands-on microgreen planting practices.

Additional activities include harvesting and post-harvest handling of microgreens, practical training on harvesting and processing, creating microgreen-based food and beverages, making microgreen biscuits and cookies, packaging techniques for processed microgreen products, and applying for PIRT (home industry food processing) licensing for microgreen products.

The primary goal of this community service activity is to encourage the PKK Group in Tanjung Sari Village to commit, participate, and take an active and productive role in fulfilling family food needs to reduce stunting, while also providing business opportunities to improve the economic well-being of residents.