Technology–Community Collaboration Strengthens Food Security Through Automated Catfish Farming
Posted on: 2025-10-13 09:27:50
A community service team from the Department of Informatics, Faculty of Science and Mathematics (FSM), Universitas Diponegoro has implemented an innovation program titled “Technology and Community Collaboration for Food Security: Deploying Automatic Feeders in Catfish Aquaculture.” The initiative demonstrates the university’s concrete commitment to empowering grassroots communities with appropriate technology to bolster local food resilience.
Implemented in RT 04/RW 08, Tembalang, Semarang, the program centers on adopting an automatic feeding system—a device that dispenses feed on a precise schedule—for community catfish ponds. The solution targets a core challenge in aquaculture: feed efficiency, which often constitutes the largest share of production costs.
Project lead Satriyo Adhy, S.Si., M.T., noted that automated feeding can improve feed-use efficiency by up to 30 percent compared with manual methods, while reducing environmental impact from uneaten feed. “Beyond the technology, what matters just as much is the active involvement of residents at every stage—from pond construction and training to ongoing monitoring of growth and harvest outcomes,” he said.
The team also includes Dr. Aris Sugiharto, S.Si., M.Kom, Prajanto Wahyu Adi, M.Kom, and Etna Vianita, S.Mat., M.Mat., who led technical training and data monitoring. Activities ran for four months (July–October 2025) and emphasized hands-on capacity building so residents can operate and maintain the devices and apply optimal feed management. This participatory approach strengthens collaboration between academia and the local community in establishing a replicable, technology-enabled model for food security.
Early results indicate the automation system lightens day-to-day feeding workloads while improving consistency and outcomes in the ponds. To ensure continuity, the team prepared a replication model so the approach can be adapted by other neighborhoods as a sustainable contribution to national food security. The program underscores how innovation and community empowerment can work in tandem and reaffirms Universitas Diponegoro’s dedication to solutions with direct, measurable impact.
