The School of Sustainable Food and Packaging Innovation: Encouraging Local Products from Dolokgede Village to Penetrate Export Markets

Dolokgede Village is known for its abundant local resource potential, particularly in the food and agricultural sectors. Unfortunately, this enormous potential is still largely exploited only on a small-scale production scale and in local markets, or limited to the raw material trade. One example is bananas. "Every week, more than 20 trucks are recorded bringing raw bananas to large industries in Surabaya to be processed into processed foods such as banana flour, baby food, commercial chips, and so on."

Meanwhile, the growth of MSMEs processing locally sourced preserved food is starting to grow. However, significant challenges remain, ranging from limited innovation in processing, implementation of quality standards, to uncompetitive packaging design. Yet, as stated, "Packaging serves not only as a container and provides protection for the product, but also as a promotional agent, an ambassador, conveying the imagination and values the product owner wishes to convey."

Challenges to the Global Market

Businesses' lack of understanding of export standards poses a serious obstacle. This includes aspects of food safety, international regulations, and packaging design and functionality that are appropriate for the global market. Packaging that lacks innovation and does not meet international standards often hinders opportunities for local products to increase their added value.

On the other hand, universities like IPB University hold hundreds of research innovations from professors, lecturers, and researchers ready to be implemented in the real world, particularly to support MSMEs. "This gap provides a continuous solution for the Lecturers Returning to Their Hometown program, providing a space for IPB innovators to contribute their innovations to the community."

This initiative is in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure), and SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production).

School of Sustainable Food and Packaging Innovation

Responding to this challenge, the “School of Sustainable Food and Packaging Innovation” program was born, a strategic step to encourage the transformation of local products in Dolokgede Village and its surroundings so that they can penetrate the export market.

This program will provide education and training for the community, MSMEs, and local farmers, covering product innovation, the application of modern packaging technology, and compliance with export standards. With intensive mentoring, local products are expected to not only compete domestically but also confidently compete internationally. "With this mentoring, it is hoped that local products from Dolokgede Village and its surroundings will not only be able to compete locally and domestically but also penetrate international markets, thereby improving the economic well-being of the local community."

Cross-Sector Collaboration

This program was made possible thanks to a collaboration between IPB University — involving Prof. Dr. Endang Warsiki, S.TP., M.Si, Prof. Dr. Chusnul Arif, STP, M.Si, Brilliant Cahya Puspasari, S.Tr.Kes., M.Biomed, and Fithriya Yulisiasih Rohmawati, S.Si., M.Si — with Ademos Indonesia ( ademosindonesia.or.id ) and PT Thara Jaya Niaga ( tharajayaniagaholding.com ).

This synergy is expected to accelerate the downstreaming of local products, open wider export opportunities, and build a sustainable and highly competitive food industry ecosystem.