Kulon Progo, January 22, 2025 – Melon production in Kulon Progo Regency still faces challenges due to limited land availability and dependence on weather conditions, leading to an imbalance between production and market demand. On the other hand, the national melon market has a large market size without sufficient supply to meet it. To address this, the Center of Excellence (CoE) Smart-Agri Field Research Center (FRC) collaborates with the CoE Medical Devices and Fabrication Lab & Plant (CoE Fablab) and the CoE Smart System Sekolah Vokasi UGM to initiate a melon development program using a smart agriculture system based on Greenhouse (GH) to enhance long-term sustainable productivity.
The program, titled “Smart-Agri Suitable for Farmer Scale (FASTAN) program” and funded by the 2025 LPDP Partnership Catalyst Grant, is led by Dr. Eng. Yosephus Ardean Kurnianto Prayitno, S.T., M.Eng., a lecturer at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sekolah Vokasi, Universitas Gadjah Mada (SV UGM). The program utilizes control and automation technology to optimize the reading of environmental parameters such as temperature, humidity, and lighting, thereby providing feedback to the fertigation process, nutrient application, and melon cultivation, resulting in more stable, measurable, and higher-quality harvests. As an initial step, the GH facility will be constructed with a focus on empowering coastal farmers with experience in horticultural cultivation. Technical training is also provided, covering fertigation systems and hands-on practice in the GH.
The first meeting with the Kulon Progo District Regional Research and Innovation Agency (Bapperida) was held on January 22, 2025, at the Bapperida Office in Kulon Progo District. This meeting marked the beginning of strategic collaboration in a research project funded by Indonesia Endowment Fund for Education (LPDP) through the 2025 Self-Reliance Partnership Catalyst Program. The meeting was attended in person by Khamdan Syakiri, S.Psi., M.P.Science, M.P.A., as the Head of the Regional Research and Innovation Division and Control at Bapperida Kulon Progo District. He expressed full commitment to this research and collaboration, which will run for a full year in 2025. “We strongly support this FASTAN innovation as it can provide a real solution for farmers to enhance agricultural productivity and efficiency. With the implementation of this technology, we hope to see improved farmer welfare and the sustainability of the agricultural sector in Kulon Progo,” he stated.
Dr. Eng. Yosephus Ardean Kurnianto Prayitno, S.T., M.Eng., as the program chair, hopes that the implementation of this system will significantly increase melon production, reduce weather dependency, and strengthen the melon-based agroindustry sector. Additionally, this program will create economic opportunities for local farmers and support regional food security.
This collaboration involves the FASTAN-Katalisator Kemitraan Berdikari 2025 LPDP team, the Kulon Progo District Government, higher education institutions and other educational institutions, industry, and startups. Unfortunately, the program still faces challenges such as the lack of interest from millennial farmers, limited self-funding schemes, and less supportive regulations from the local government. Therefore, support from various parties is needed to ensure the sustainability of the program and establish FASTAN-Katalisator Kemitraan Berdikari 2025 LPDP as a center of excellence for melon-based agroindustry in Kulon Progo Regency.
Author: Ahmat Hari Setiyawan;
Curator: Yosephus Ardean Kurnianto Prayitno