Community service activities as one of the agendas of a series of activities towards the 66th Anniversary of Unhas chose Toddopulia Village, Tanralili District, Maros Regency as the location of service on Saturday, August 20, 2022.

Taking the theme “Let’s Plant Moringa for Healthy Communities and Prevent Stunting,” the activity which was attended directly by the Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture (Prof. Dr. Ir. Salengke, M.Sc) was welcomed by the Regent of Maros (H.A.S Chaidir Syam, S.IP., M.H) and the local community|

The Dean of Faperta Unhas did not expect to get a direct welcome from the Regent of Maros and received full enthusiasm from the village community. He explained that Faperta Unhas continues to strive to find solutions that are beneficial to various problems that occur in the midst of society.

“This idea actually came up only about 3 weeks ago. We tried to understand what we could provide as part of the farm that could help the surrounding community, and then the idea of community service to plant moringa came up. There are about 1,500 Moringa sticks that we will plant and distribute to residents for each of them to be planted in the yard,” he added.

Prof. Salengke also revealed that planting Moringa stems is the first step, while the second step will be done after the Moringa trunk grows into a whole tree for re-counseling on how to process it. This is done so that the people of Toddopulia Village can use Moringa leaves as a source of income for the community as in several places in Indonesia.

Chaidir Syam expressed his full appreciation for the community service carried out in Toddopulia Village. He said that stunting sufferers in children in Maros Regency are very high, which is at the second highest number after Jeneponto Regency, so the target he wants to achieve now is to meet the nutrition of the community, especially children.

“We all hope that hopefully by planting Moringa, we can make good use of our yard, especially since it turns out that moringa is very high in nutrition,” he said.

The activity continued with the handover of Moringa stems by the Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture Unhas to the Regent of Maros and representatives of residents symbolically before then planting Moringa stems which can be witnessed directly by residents.

Prof. Dr. Ir. Farid, M.Si as an agricultural lecturer, on the same occasion provided counseling to residents regarding planting to the benefits contained in the Moringa plant. He explained that moringa cultivation is very important considering the large amount of nutrients in Moringa so that it can prevent stunting.

“Vitamin A in Moringa is 4 times more than carrots, B vitamins in Moringa are 4 times more than yeast, then vitamin C in Moringa is 7 times more than citrus fruits, and vitamin E in Moringa is 3 times more than wheat. The protein is 2 times more than milk and soy and the iron content is 25 times more than spinach,” explained Prof. Farid.

Furthermore, he explained about other benefits that can be felt when consuming Moringa such as lowering blood pressure, blood sugar, preventing cancer, strengthening the uterus, and being used as a face mask. Finally, Prof. Farid gave direct instructions on how to plant Moringa stems by utilizing polybags to get maximum results.