The series of events for the 34th National Student Scientific Week (PIMNAS) held at the Central Administration Bureau Building of the University of North Sumatra (USU) has been successfully implemented. The series of events were officially opened by the USU leadership on October 26, 2021, while the peak of the event was marked by the announcement of the winners of the 34th PIMNAS on October 29, 2021.

The PKM-Implementation of Science and Technology (PKM-PI) Team of the University of Indonesia, consisting of 5 (five) FMIPA UI students, won a silver medal at the event with the theme “Towards a Golden Indonesia Through Collaboration for Innovation within the Framework of Local Wisdom”.

They are Kristina Hersandi (Biology 2018) as the team leader, and the team members are Alyssa Zahwa Ananda (Biology 2018), Albertus Aldo (Chemistry 2019), Jovel Edrei (Chemistry 2019), and Din Wijaya (Biology 2020).

Under the guidance of Dra. Wellyzar Sjamsuridzal, M. Sc. Ph. D., the PKM PI UI Team carried out the innovation “Smart Bee-Farming”. This concept is an integrated beekeeping concept that optimizes the results of honey bee cultivation by planting natural plants as natural feed and providing additional feed from household waste.

The selected plants are Tagetes patula and Wedelia trilobata plants that produce flowers as a natural food source for bees. The household waste used is fermented home rice water waste and pineapple skin waste that functions as an efficient additional feed for farmers.

As a mentor, Wellyzar conveyed a quote from Albert Einstein, so that we protect the lives of honey bees that have been protecting the earth and its contents, including us.

“If bees disappeared from the face of the earth, humans would only survive for 4 years. If there were no more honeybees, there would be no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, and no more humans”…(Albert Einstein)

Smart Bee-Farming has been applied directly at the honey bee farm in Ciburai Village, Bandung since June 1, 2021, and continues to this day through online monitoring by the team.

This concept has succeeded in bringing a positive impact to the farmer partners, so it is hoped that the goal of the “Smart Bee-Farming” concept to maintain the stability of the amount of honey bee product production throughout the year can be achieved.

Dr. Retno Lestari, M.Si. as the Student Affairs Manager of FMIPA UI expressed her gratitude for the achievement of FMIPA UI this year which has succeeded in getting a silver medal at PIMNAS amidst the minimal number of proposals that passed from UI to the PIMNAS event.

“Hopefully this can inspire and encourage FMIPA UI students to play a more active role in writing their creative ideas in the form of PKM proposals. FMIPA itself always provides support to PKM teams that submit proposals, which are funded, and pass to PIMNAS. The form of assistance includes consultations and presentation training involving alumni who have won at PIMNAS and understand content and graphic design,” said Dr. Retno.

PIMNAS is a program organized by the National Achievement Center (Puspernas) of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology in the field of student reasoning and creativity. The implementation of PIMNAS is to create a scientific climate among students, so that Indonesian students are created who are creative, innovative, superior, independent based on national culture within the framework of diversity.