PRE-DESIGN FOR INTEGRATED CULTIVATION OF SWEET CORN \TEXTIT{ZEA MAYS SACCHARATA STURT} WITH COMPOST PRODUCTION FROM CULTIVATION WASTE

• Main Author: Sagita Putri, Amanda
• Format: Final Project
• Language: Indonesia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/73985
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

Sweet corn is one of the food crops that plays a role in the development of the agricultural industry in Indonesia. This makes sweet corn a widely cultivated commodity among Indonesian farmers. The productivity of sweet corn in West Java, based on BPS data in 2021, reached 60.09 tons per hectare, while the production of sweet corn outside of Java reached 54.55 tons per hectare. The high productivity in Java can be attributed to several factors, such as the availability of inputs such as fertilizers, technology, capital, and easily accessible labor, favorable agroclimate conditions, and better soil fertility. Sweet corn contains various nutrients that are beneficial to health, such as protein, fat, carbohydrates, calcium, phosphorus, iron, vitamin A, vitamin B, and vitamin C. Additionally, sweet corn has a low Glycemic Index (GI) value, with boiled sweet corn having a GI of 41.22 and sautéed sweet corn having a GI of 31.08. This low GI value falls into the low category, which means that processed sweet corn products can help maintain blood sugar stability and prevent diabetes mellitus (DM). The high nutritional content of sweet corn makes it an alternative food source to replace rice and as a raw material for other products, such as corn flour, corn rice, corn oil, and processed foods. One common issue encountered in sweet corn cultivation is low productivity caused by pest and pathogen attacks, as well as the high cost involved, which poses a challenge for farmers. Sometimes, the cost invested does not correspond to the income obtained by the farmers. This challenge can be addressed through various means, such as using superior seeds like the Bonanza variety of sweet corn seeds produced by PT East West Seed Indonesia. The Bonanza variety has been proven to increase farmers' productivity due to its seed resistance to insect pests and diseases. Furthermore, this superior seed has a sweet and crispy taste, making it more preferred by consumers. Apart from the solution of using superior seeds, another approach to reducing high costs is to create an integrated farming system. In an integrated farming system, the waste generated from cultivating a crop can be processed into new products that can be used as inputs for subsequent cultivation or sold in the market for profit. The abundant waste from corn, such as stems and leaves, is often not utilized by farmers due to limited capital and knowledge. However, these crop residues can be used as raw materials for compost production. Compost is a product resulting from the decomposition of easily decomposable organic waste by microorganisms under aerobic or anaerobic conditions. Adding compost to cultivation land helps enhance soil microbial activity, accelerate organic matter decomposition, and improve nutrient cycling in the soil. According to research by Surtinah (2013), compost residues contain nutrients such as organic carbon (10.5%), nitrogen (1.05%), C/N ratio (9.97), P2O5 (1.01%), K2O (0.18%), and Ca (1.98 me/100g). Applying compost to sweet corn cultivation is expected to enhance plant growth and production, while reducing the production costs incurred by farmers. This pre-design consists of sweet corn production activities and compost production from sweet corn crop residues. Sweet corn is cultivated on a 1-hectare plot divided into three smaller plots measuring 2500 m2, 2500 m2, and 5000 m2, respectively. Cultivation activities are carried out monthly by rotating production activities from one plot to the next. The spacing between sweet corn plants is 25 cm x 75 cm with a depth of approximately 20 cm. Sweet corn cultivation activities follow the standard operating procedures (SOP) of PT East West Indonesia. The production of compost utilizes main raw materials in the form of leftover stalks and leaves of sweet corn plants, combined with a starter of activated microorganisms. The composting process applies the Berkeley method, which involves aerobic reactions by microorganisms that accelerate compost maturation. The compost production is carried out for 18 days. The pre-design of the integrated system for cultivating sweet corn and compost production has a sweet corn production capacity of 50.00 tons/ha/year in the first year and 61.53 tons/ha/year in the second year. The compost production is 39.26 tons/year in the first year and 48.32 tons/year in the second year and subsequent years. The cultivation of sweet corn is carried out for 71 days after sowing, based on the findings of the Final Project 1 (TA-1), which recommends the optimal harvesting time for corn based on starch content (9.27 grams), glucose (10.3 grams), crude fiber (1.34 grams), and corn sweetness level (18.33%), which is optimal within that time range. The cultivation and land processing activities are initially conducted in January in Plot 1 and will be harvested in March. The subsequent planting is done in February in Plot 2, and the harvest is in April. Then, in April, the cultivation activities will resume in Plot 1 after a resting period of approximately 3 weeks. The cultivation of corn plants takes place in the cultivation land of PT East West Seed Indonesia in Benteng Village, Campaka Subdistrict, Purwakarta, West Java, Indonesia. The location coordinates are 6.51424, 107.49413, with an elevation of 84 meters above sea level. The cultivation land has an area of 100 x 100 meters, the harvest storage building occupies an area of 3 x 10 meters, the compost production building covers an area of 3 x 5 meters, and the office building spans an area of 3 x 3 meters. For irrigation and other water needs, a drilled well serves as the water source on the western side of the business location. The pre-design of the integrated system for cultivating sweet corn and compost production consists of 3 subsystems: the land preparation subsystem, the cultivation subsystem, and the compost production subsystem. The land preparation subsystem incorporates compost produced from the compost production subsystem to enhance soil nutrient content before being used as input in the cultivation subsystem. Waste obtained from the cultivation subsystem, such as stalks and leaves, is utilized as input for compost production in the compost production subsystem, aiming to transform the waste into a new product that can be used as input in subsequent cultivation activities. The land preparation subsystem in Plot 1 in January has a total mass balance of 482,875.32 tons/period/plot. The energy balance in this subsystem consists of human energy input of 3.497 MJ/period/plot, machine input energy of 499,320.72 MJ/period/plot with a utilized energy of 474,354.68 MJ/period/plot, and lost energy of 24,966.04 MJ/period/plot. The energy input of compost provided to the land at the beginning of land processing activities is 33.31 MJ/period/plot. The cultivation subsystem in Plot 1 during January to March yields a total mass balance of 1306.56 tons/period/plot. The energy balance in the cultivation subsystem consists of photosynthesis energy of 72,403.72 MJ/period/plot, human energy of 850.16 MJ/period/plot, machine energy of 4,195.80 MJ/period/plot, and plant energy at harvest of 40,266.71 MJ/period/plot. The last subsystem, compost production, has a mass balance with equal input and output values, which are 11.6 tons/period/plot. The output of this subsystem is compost, with a component output mass of 1.705 tons/period/plot. The energy balance in the compost production subsystem has a total input energy of 31,675.24 MJ/period/plot, consisting of human energy of 9.92 MJ/period/plot, machine energy of 178.55 MJ/period/plot, solar energy of 31,260.78 MJ/period/plot, and plant biomass energy of 225.98 MJ/period/plot. The total output energy is 202.96 MJ/period/plot, comprising biomass energy of 176.18 MJ/period/plot and machine energy of 26.78 MJ/period/plot. The initial investment required to operate the integrated system of cultivating sweet corn and producing compost from sweet corn cultivation waste is Rp. 153,037,867. The income from selling sweet corn products in the first period amounts to Rp. 499,985,070, and in the second period, it reaches Rp. 615,366,240. The integrated sweet corn cultivation and compost production business will break even (BEP) when the product can be sold for Rp. 48,022,898 or when the product is sold in the amount of 4,802.29 kg in the first year, and Rp. 48,143,620 or when the product is sold in the amount of 4,814.36 kg in the second year. The investment costs will be recouped based on the Payback Period calculation within a one-year time frame. The ideal business net present value (NPV) with an interest rate of 6% amounts to Rp. Rp 1,765,799,898, and the Net Benefit-Cost (B/C) ratio is 3.23. The internal rate of return (IRR) for this system is 77.25%. Based on the analysis conducted on the sweet corn cultivation system, it can be concluded that the predesign of the integrated system for cultivating sweet corn and producing compost from sweet corn waste can be implemented.