Surabaya (malangkota.go.id) – Tulusrejo Village, Lowokwaru District, Malang City won the Best III Award for Implementing 10 PKK Programs at the East Java Province Level. The award was given directly by the Governor of East Java, Khofifah Indar Parawansa, to the Chairperson of the Malang City PKK TP, Widayati, S.Sos, MM at the commemoration of the 48th PKK Unity Movement Day in 2020 at the East Java Level which was held at the Grahadi State Building, Surabaya, Monday (9/3/2020).
In her speech, Governor Khofifah invited all administrators, cadres and members of the Family Welfare Empowerment (PKK) to re-encourage the planting of Family Medicinal Plants (Toga) which has become one of the elaborations of the 10 Main Programs of the PKK.
"Planting family medicinal plants or empon-empon has become increasingly important after many media and social media have emphasized the benefits of empon-empon for various diseases, including those currently being widely discussed related to the Corona virus (Covid-19). This means that toga does have a healthy content value and moreover, the empon-empon plants are very easy to grow in home gardens and on the outskirts of villages," he said.
Therefore, the revitalization of planting herbal medicine must be a more massive joint movement carried out at every RT and RW level. Moreover, PKK already has a Hatinya PKK program, namely a Beautiful, Organized, and Comfortable Yard, so in addition to the yard being able to be planted with Toga, it can also be planted with productive food crops such as vegetables and fruits.
One of them is vegetable plants such as spinach and kale which contain high iron, these easy-to-grow vegetables can be a source of adequate family nutrition, especially iron intake which is very important for adolescent growth and preventing stunting.
Meanwhile, the Chairperson of the Malang City PKK, Widayati, S.Sos, MM responded positively to the message conveyed by Governor Khofifah. "The Malang City PKK, in addition to implementing toga as part of the 10 PKK Main Program, the Malang City PKK has also launched a program Urban Farming (Urban Agriculture) and it has spread to 57 sub-districts and received appreciation from the Central Government," explained Widayati.
According to the wife of the Mayor of Malang, narrow land or limited land is not an obstacle. "Malang City has also developed a hydroponic planting system. This planting model can be introduced starting from elementary to junior high school students, and of course specifically to the PKK mothers of Malang City," she added. (hms/yon)
