Depok, December 17, 2021. The Covid-19 pandemic has impacted various sectors, including tourism in the Carita area, which has been temporarily closed. To find a source of income, residents of Sukarame village, Carita, Pandeglang, have processed the village’s abundant bananas into banana chips and marketed them.

Unfortunately, “So far, banana chips sales are still done offline, while online sales are only done through broadcast messages via the WhatsApp application to relatives. Therefore, it is hoped that this community service activity from the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Indonesia (UI), can help banana chip producers in improving the brand, packaging, and sales of Sukarame Village banana chips,” said Retno Lestari, head of the Community Service Team (Pengmas) of the Faculty of Mathematics & Natural Sciences, UI (FMIPA UI), which socialized the development of banana chips with the Sukarame Banana Chips (SBC) brand.

This community service was carried out in collaboration with the Pandu Cendekia Foundation and the UI Scout Team, with support from the UI Directorate of Community Service and Empowerment (DPRM UI). The activity involved educating local residents on proper product packaging, introducing more practical cutting tools, and introducing online shop marketing strategies, including how to create attractive product broadcast messages. “We focused on outreach through improvising packaging and labels,” said Retno.

According to Retno, SBC banana chips have the advantage of being thinner and crispier. Eton, a resident of Sukarame Village, also explained that banana production in Sukarame Village increased during the pandemic, leading to innovations in processing them. These banana chips are typically made from green bananas, kepok bananas, and horn bananas.

The processing is adapted to local wisdom, resulting in banana chips with a distinctive texture and flavor. Eton also added that the main obstacle in processing banana chips is the decline in banana prices, while oil prices are rising, resulting in higher capital costs.

“I hope this activity will raise awareness among villagers about the immense economic potential of the village. We, as residents, also hope this activity will increase our banana chip sales by encouraging us to continue improving,” said Eton.