Students of Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta (UMY) won another national level achievement in 2020. A group of students who are members of the UMY Tilawatil Qur’an Development Institute (LPTQ) Student Activity Unit received grant funding for the Holistic Village Development and Empowerment Program (PHP2D). This grant program organized by the Ministry of Education and Culture (Kemendikbud) aims to foster a sense of caring in students to contribute to the village community in order to build active, independent, entrepreneurial, and prosperous villages.

With the title “Development of Tourism Village and Gamol Culture through Agrotechnopark as an Effort to Strengthen Sustainable Integrated Agricultural Literacy”, LPTQ UMY held a launch program on Friday (28/08) while following the appropriate health protocol. Farizna Permata Sari, the head of the UMY LPTQ team said that the program was made based on the potential of Gamol Village which can be developed into a productive, innovative, and independent Tourism and Culture Village. “Some of the empowerment activities that we will carry out are planting indigofera seeds, training in cultivation and mentoring mushroom farming, building training houses for production and assisting the production of indigofera pellet and freshwater crayfish, training in business management and product marketing training,” she explained.

This activity received a good response from the residents of Gamol Village because it was in line with the village’s program to change the community’s way of thinking and behavior in order to be more prosperous. Apart from that, UMY also gave full appreciation and support to LPTQ UMY. Prof. Hilman Latief, S.Ag., M.A., Ph.D., Vice Rector for Student Affairs, Alumni, and AIK UMY stated that this program is in line with student development which aims to increase student empathy for problems in society. “The university and I support this program. For the accompanying lecturers and the team, I ask that they be able to ensure that the programs that have been designed can run well. The key is always to coordinate with the hamlet,” he said. (ays)