The team of lecturers from the Department of Automotive Engineering Education and Agricultural Technology Education, Faculty of Engineering, Makassar State University (UNM) successfully applied digester technology to produce biogas from cattle waste in Gattareng Village of Marioriwawo District of Soopeng Regency. Biogas digester made is a type of fix dome with a capacity of 4 m3 that can serve 1 to 2 breeder households in Gattareng Village. The implementation of this Science and Technology is the implementation of the Community Commitment Program (PKM) funded by the Directorate of Research and Community Service (DRPM) of the Ministry of Education and Technology fiscal year 2021 in collaboration with the Research and Community Service Institute (LP2M) of UNM and Gattareng Village as partners. The implementation team of PKM LP2M UNM is: Mr. Dr. M. Ahsan S. Mandra, ST., MT. As chairman, and Dr. Eng Ismail, ST., MT. and Amiruddin Hambali, ST., M.Si. as a team member.
According to the Head of the PKM Team, Dr. M. Ahsan S. Mandra, The application of this technology is needed because the majority of the farming community has not utilized the resulting livestock waste so that it has the potential to cause odor, environmental pollution and increased greenhouse gas (GHG) from livestock waste methane gas if not managed properly. In addition, the utilization of biogas from cow dung waste can reduce the burden of lpg gas fuel use of breeders. The resulting biogas can be utilized for daily cooking needs so as to save the expenses of farmers who generally still use LPG gas for cooking.
Another benefit is slurry or livestock manure dregs produced from the process of making biogas can be directly utilized as organic fertilizer for agricultural crops so as to reduce the use of farmers' chemical fertilizers around the biogas site. The use of chemical fertilizers today is also a problem experienced by farmers because in addition to damaging the structure and nutrients of the soil if used for a long period of time, farmers are also quite burdened with relatively expensive and sometimes rare prices in the market.
The problem faced by the community related to the application of biogas digester technology is the investment needed to build biogas digester installations are still relatively expensive so that people still feel burdened to build biogas installations independently. Therefore, it takes the role of the government and private sector through village community empowerment programs that touch directly on community problems that and also the role of private through CSR assistance can support the application of this biogas technology in the future so that it can be more massively applied.
The hope of the chairman of LP2M UNM, Prof. Dr.. Ir. Bakhrani Rauf, MT., stated that this PKM activity is expected to contribute to support the Mandiri Energi Village program, especially in Gattareng Village and in Soppeng Regency in general. In addition, it is a form of synergy of LP2M UNM with the Village Government, through community service activities are expected to help solve various problems in the village so that the role of universities, especially UNM, can be more felt by the wider community.
According to Mr. Kasman as a breeder in Gattareng Village, it was greatly helped by the existence of this biogas manufacturing program. "The hope is that this Community Partnership Program can continue to be implemented so that it can help farmers reduce lpg gas purchase expenditure for cooking needs and at the same time get organic fertilizer from biogas slurry waste for agriculture. Mr. Rappe S, as the Head of Gattareng Village expressed his gratitude and expressed his deepest gratitude to the Rector of UNM and Mr. Chairman of LP2M UNM Mr. Prof.Dr. Ir. H. Bakhrani Rauf, MT., Mr. Dr. M. Ahsan S. Mandra as the initiator of this activity, as well as kemdikbudristek which has supported the implementation of this activity, "he concluded.