The Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB) is to conduct a greening drive in villages around its campus based on the community empowerment principle to realize its biological natural diversity campus (KEHATI) concept, a spokesman said.
A KEHATI campus was a settlement and landscape where academic life is marked by a harmonious integration of people and education, said Ahmad Yani, a member of the IPB`s Research and Development Institute (LPPM) here Saturday.
“The communities in the villages surrounding the campus, the local culture and biodiversity must have one common purpose, namely the general welfare and conservation of biodiversity,” Ahmad said.
In the greening drive, the IPB would cooperate with national gas company PT PGN to plant as many as 10,000 trees around the campus.
The activity would be attended by the Rector of IPB, the Minister of Forestry Zulkifli Hasan, the Dean of Animal Husbandry Faculty, the Board of Directors of National Gas Company as well as the community and the academics.
Ahmad said the series of PGN-IPB KEHATI activities included basic study on an inventory and identification of potential land, socialization to the local people, training on organic cultivation and planting of trees for food and medicine as many as 10,000 seedlings.
The location of planting activities are in the IPB campus area of approximately 2.5 hectares, in nearby villages around the campus area of 7.5 hectares namely Benteng, Cibanteng, Cikarawang, Cihideung Ilir and Babakan sub village.
“The type of trees to be planted are among others Soursop, Breadfruit, Petai, bol guava, jackfruit, nutmeg, avocado, rambutan, mango and guava,” Ahmad noted.
He added this activity was very beneficial for the society including economics, health and the environment benefits.
Campus KEHATI is a mindset form realized through the harmony of the IPB ecosystem as a core and ring campus village.
The villages are empowered maximum to meet the needs of daily living for the KEHATI campus community and even to other people such as food, clean water, clean air, shelter, energy, medicine, education facilities conservation, ecotourism and others.
“Campus KEHATI aims to establish an unique and real model for stakeholders, provide and facilitate the learning process and development of knowledge in the real world, build an image and a model of integrated organic farming, humane, harmony with nature, realize the Indonesia miniature of bio-cultural-diversity in concrete form in the real world,” Ahmad explained.
