A team from the UGM Faculty of Agricultural Technology conducted a monitoring and evaluation for the pilot project of Sharia business model development for processed soybean food, held at Nurul Hakim Boarding School in West Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, on Thursday (15/6).
This project is a work program of the Department of Sharia Economics and Finance (DEKS) of Bank Indonesia in collaboration with agricultural technology faculty to empower the economy of pesantren (Islamic boarding schools) through soybean farming, post-harvest soybean processing and diversification of soybean-based products.
In 2023, the activities were conducted in three different locations: Nurul Hakim Boarding School in West Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara; Kulliyatul Muallimin Baitul Quran Slogohimo Boarding School in Wonogiri, Central Java; and Assalam Naga Boarding School in Kampar, Riau.
Dean of the faculty, Professor Eni Harmayani, personally led this project to introduce a Sharia business model in the processed soybean food sector based on local, healthy, and hygienic soybeans at the boarding school. Soybeans were chosen as the commodity because they are highly nutritious.
This project also aims to reintroduce the concept of soybean cultivation, particularly superior local soybean varieties, to the public, which is expected to support the government’s program in achieving self-sufficiency in soybeans and meeting the community’s demand for soybeans.
The activities include mentoring in cultivating local soybean varieties, introducing post-harvest soybean technology, processing soybeans into hygienic tempeh, and producing soybean-based processed foods.
Additionally, the faculty guided the boarding school regarding production management, branding, and marketing of soybean-based processed products. With funding from DEKS, the faculty facilitated the procurement of various farming tools and post-harvest soybean equipment and machinery and the construction of tempeh production facilities and their processing equipment at the boarding school.
These facilities were developed to introduce the hygienic processing of superior local soybeans into the tempeh and designed to be managed by students and the school management as part of entrepreneurship education for pesantren communities.
In addition to fulfilling the daily needs of tempeh at the boarding school, these tempeh production facilities can also become a new business unit for the boarding school in supporting its educational programs.
Nurul Hakim Boarding School regularly produces tempeh using 50-60 kg of soybeans daily. Most of the production is to supply the tempeh needs in the boarding school’s kitchen.
The remaining portion is processed into various products, such as dried tempeh, spicy tempeh sauce, sweet tempeh, and tempeh chips, currently sold in limited quantities at the boarding school’s shops and cooperatives.
Source: Faculty of Agricultural Technology