Community Partnership Program in Processing Cassava Into Mocaf on Woman Farmers in Petapahan District

Abstract

Today's women are no longer engaged in the domestic sector only but have explored the public sector, one of which is in agriculture as a female farmer. The choice of this profession as a female farmer is inseparable from economic factors and the demands of life. Ironically, even though it aims to increase family income, women farmers still have a relatively low income. It is caused by a lack of knowledge to take advantage of opportunities through innovative processing of agricultural products. Among the many agricultural products, one of the efforts that can be done is processing cassava into MOCAF (Modified Cassava Flour). This process is an agro-industry based innovation on agricultural products that utilizes fermentation in its processing. This activity is new for partner farmers in Petapahan Village, Lubuk Pakam District, Deli Serdang Regency. This condition is caused by 1) lack of knowledge partner in processing cassava into MOCAF, 2) Limitations in access to get a quality fermentation starter for MOCAF fermentation. Therefore, training and extension activities will be essential to improve the knowledge and ability of partner farmers in processing cassava into MOCAF, including counseling and training related to the fermentation starter. Moreover, the provision of production equipment (processing) for partner farmers must also be a concern, to facilitate partner farmers in processing cassava processing into MOCAF. So the opportunity for the emergence of new entrepreneurs in the processing of MOCAF will be greater.