One of the layouts of H-FARMS created by Maria Ulfa Yanuar and Lidwina Galuh Wandira

ITS Campus, ITS News – In this digital era, various activities, including shopping, can be done from home, only with a device and internet network. However, online shopping or e-commerce service providers are currently not interested in harvested commodities such as rice. Seeing this, two students of the Department of Business Statistics, Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS) created H-FARMS to help with website-based rice marketing.

The rice commodity is very much needed by all Indonesian people so that it has a very big opportunity to develop rapidly if it is marketed online. Seeing the potential for selling harvested commodities online, Maria Ulfa Yanuar and Lidwina Galuh Wandira have innovated a website page called H-FARMS which is an acronym for Happy Shopping Shop.

As explained by Maria, H-FARMS is an innovative website-based database platform for and sale and purchase of rice crops designed to explore the wealth of rice harvests in Indonesia. “This innovation is here to sell harvested products online, with the motivation to improve the welfare of farmers through efficient and effective buying and selling in the era of the Covid-19 pandemic,” she explained.

In current practice, continued Maria, the majority of farmers are still unable to directly market their products to consumers. Before finally reaching the buyers’ hands, the rice from the farmers is passed on to middlemen to be distributed to other sellers. The large number of parties involved makes it easier for farmers because they do not have to bother distributing the rice. However, the profits that farmers get are getting smaller because commodities have to be sold at low prices to middlemen.

The plus value that buyer gets when buying products from H-FARMS compared to buying at a shop is the guaranteed freshness of the product. Besides, with the existence of an online sales platform in the form of H-FARMS, farmers can directly sell their products to consumers so that the profits they get are also higher. Thus, the welfare of farmers is also expected to increase.

Maria Ulfa Yanuar and Lidwina Galuh Wandira, students of the ITS Business Statistics Department who won 2nd place in the LKTIN Economic Fair at the University of Jember

According to Maria, the challenge in implementing H-FARMS lies in the implementation process which requires farmers to upload their product data to a digital system. “Not all farmers know and can operate the internet, so there need to be parties who help farmers,” explained 2019 ITS Business Statistics student.

To help farmers market their products, Maria said that Karang Taruna in each region could be the right solution in helping farmers. Karang Taruna, which is a young person, is certainly familiar with the digital world so that it can help the product management process from farmers to digital systems. This can become a new job field that can absorb young people who have not got a job.

Maria revealed that H-FARMS can be an online shopping solution that can help the farmer’s economy. Besides, H-FARMS is also suitable for use, especially during a pandemic like this time, when everyone is advised not to go to crowded locations such as markets.

In distributing rice, according to Maria, H-FARMS will partner with online expeditions and motorcycle taxis in terms of delivery. So that buyers don’t have to bother leaving the house during a pandemic to buy their needs.

This innovation from Maria and Galuh has won second place in the Economic Fair National Scientific Writing Competition (LKTIN) at the University of Jember, some time ago. They are both very enthusiastic if this innovation can be implemented. “Hopefully, H-FARMS can add to the types of commodities offered so that more harvested products can be purchased online,” she said. (ram/ris/ITS Public Relations)

The layout of the H-FARMS checkout menu