Kamuh Village is one of the villages in the Seventeen District of Bengkayang Regency. According to data from the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) in 2016, Kamuh Village is divided into 11 Neighborhood Units with 3 hamlets, namely Semawing Hamlet, Setia Karya Hamlet and Setia Maju Hamlet. The area of Kamuh Village is 32 km2, with a population of 2398 people, or a population density of around 75 people/km2. Even though 99 households out of the large population are in the lowest 40% of welfare, the large number of productive age residents is an important asset in the development of Kamuh Village.
The source of community income comes from the agricultural and plantation sectors. The agricultural sector places rice as its main crop, while in the plantation sector, corn is the largest secondary crop in Kamuh Village with a plantation area of 2,200 hectares. Based on the survey results, the harvested corn is marketed in shelled form and then sold to middlemen, causing the selling price of shelled corn to be uncertain. On the other hand, corn sold in shelled form naturally leaves quite a lot of corn husk waste. This causes environmental problems in society.
To overcome these two problems, the Community Service (PKM) team from the Chemistry Postgraduate (S-2) Study Program, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Tanjungpura University provided solutions to the problems faced by the Kamuh Village community. These two problems are overcome with an alternative activity that can increase people's income by utilizing materials that are abundantly available in Kamuh Village, namely corn husks. Corn husks can be used as raw material for making various handicrafts such as decorative flowers.
Using corn husks as handicrafts can also overcome the problem of corn husk waste, which is quite abundant in Kamuh Village. Through activities in the form of training, the Kamuh Village community as activity partners directly practiced making handicrafts, guided by the skilled PKM Postgraduate (S-2) Chemistry Study Program team.
Based on the results of the questionnaire, the abundant corn husks were only partly used as animal feed and partly only as waste that was thrown away or burned. There has never been any training activity on increasing the added value of corn husks as a handicraft material, either in the form of flowers or anything else. In addition, the majority of partners who before the implementation of the activity did not have knowledge and skills about handicrafts from corn husk waste now know and can make their own. Partners assess that the PKM team has conveyed their skills well. The PKM S2-Chemistry activities are also considered by partners to be very useful because the handicrafts produced have high economic value. Abundant and underused corn husks are no longer waste for the surrounding environment, but can actually increase partners' income. Therefore, in this PKM activity, assistance (coaching clinic) is also provided to the community in terms of marketing handicraft products, including in terms of packaging handicraft products and marketing methods. Mitra hopes that similar PKM activities will be carried out again in Kamuh Village.
Increasing the Added Value of Corn Husk Waste into Handicrafts with High Economic Value for the Community of Kamuh Village, Seventeen District, Bengkayang Regency
By: PKM S2-Chemistry Untan Team
