After appearing in several news reports recently, the Environmentally Friendly Catfish Smoker, a creation by UGM students, was showcased directly at the 2023 PIMNAS at Universitas Padjajaran, Jatinangor.
Dinda Iffana Silma, the team leader, expressed gratitude because her project was funded and participated in the 2023 event.
“It feels great to participate. We can introduce the product directly to the public,” Silma said at the exhibition on Tuesday (November 28).
Indeed, many visitors were curious to see this environmentally friendly smoking tool. Quite a few of them approached and inquired with the team.
Silma explained that the tool is actually a simple technology appropriate for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
“It only requires coconut husks, fire, water, ice cubes, and LPG. We also know that coconut husks are easy to obtain,” she said.
This environmentally friendly smoking tool consists of two components: a device that produces grade 3 liquid smoke and a device with grade 1 liquid smoke.
The team considered the grade 3 liquid smoke device less optimal because the liquid can only be used for plants. In contrast, the grade 1 device produced purer liquid smoke that can preserve various products.
For the first component, the produced liquid is black and is only used for pesticides, while for the complete set, the produced liquid is clear.
Silma was quite pleased with the enthusiasm of the visitors. According to her, five observers of this smoker expressed their interest. Unfortunately, some of the five did not continue negotiations to obtain the device due to pricing.
“It’s not cheap; for one set, it costs 12–15 million. The first component producing grade 3 costs 10 million,” she said.
Nevertheless, Dinda stated that this device is beneficial because it can increase the added value of the selling price of fish, especially catfish. Smoked catfish will be more valuable than unsmoked kind.
She admitted that the tool was made out of concern for the abundant catfish production in the Wonosari hamlet of Banyusari Village, Magelang Regency. The hamlet recorded 600 kg of catfish production every month.
She and the team, consisting of Ademas Alam Pangestu, Irvan Gibran, and Permana Cahya Kekar Adiputra, will reevaluate their pricing. The current price of 15 million is for a capacity of 30 kg of catfish for a smoking process lasting 2-4 hours.
“We will reevaluate this price, or at least we will make a tool with half the capacity, 15 kg, to make it more affordable,” explained Silma.
Author: Agung Nugroho