Diponegoro University – Semarang. The Lecturer Team from the Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Animal and Agricultural Sciences, Undip held magot cultivation training in Sukorejo Village, Sambirejo District, Sragen Regency on Saturday, March 4, 2023. It is hoped that the maggot that will be cultivated by the community can be an alternative source of feed in catfish and poultry breeding, in order to reduce feed costs. This activity was carried out to overcome the problems of farmers who complained that it was difficult and expensive to get cheap feed for the livestock and fishery businesses they had carried out. “If the feed problem can be resolved, there will definitely be many more residents who want to run catfish breeding business, because it has proven to be very profitable in the past,” explained Sukrisno, S.Pd.SD, S.H. who serves as the Head of Sukorejo Village.
“Maggot comes from black flies (Black Soldier Flies) and is one of the quality alternative feeds for fish and livestock,” explained Dr. Ir. Mulyono, M.Si., a maggot researcher from Undip, in front of around 120 farmers. It was further explained in his presentation that the high protein content (up to 38%) and high fat (20%) and the ease of cultivation make maggot even more attractive to develop. Maggot cultivation can be done in a simple and inexpensive way. Apart from providing an inexpensive source of protein, maggot cultivation is also one of the organic waste processing activities that is produced and handled at the household scale.
Training activities are given in full session starting with counseling on maggot cultivation techniques from hatching eggs to cultivating adult flies. In this training activity, the Department of Animal Science FPP Undip also handed over assistance in the form of maggot eggs, equipment and feed for maggot cultivation. Maggot can be harvested at the age of 15-20 days and can be directly used as fish and livestock (poultry) feed or dried first. As for Sukorejo residents who will use maggot for catfish feed, they can harvest baby maggot, which is a maggot that is about one week old. This baby maggot is an alternative feed to replace blood worms which have been used as the main feed in catfish breeding.
This maggot training is followed by direct practice, so that farmers will be truly capable and independent in carrying out their cultivation. Head of the Department of Animal Science, Dr. Ir. Sri Sumarsih, S.Pt, M.P., IPM, in her closing remarks at the training, said that this community service activity is a means of transferring science and technology from research results at Undip to the livestock community. It is hoped that success in cultivating maggot will improve the economy of the farming community so that the purpose of community service activities, namely in a series of accelerating sustainable national development goals or Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) can be achieved. Thus it is expected to end poverty that still exists in society.
