Economic Analysis of Oyster Mushroom Waste Utilization for Alternative Energy in Community Empowerment Program

Abstract

This study used a qualitative approach to reveal the process of making briquettes along with its economic calculations to measure Break Event Point (BEP) and profits in one year as a result of the implementation of community empowerment programs. The method used was the interview, observation, and documentation.As a tropical country, Indonesia has a high opportunity to develop oyster mushroom cultivation, especially in the highlands or mountains that are identical to the countryside. Young farmers who do not have the experience, need to be educated and trained to have a global outlook and are ready to accept the challenges of today's creative industries in Indonesia. The difficulties of having employment in the rural area force young people to go to the city to be factory workers or private employees because farmers in the majority do not own agriculture land so that they really depend on the landowner with no optimal profits. In addition, farmers currently only rely on crops that depend on weather conditions or natural factors, so that there is a significant effect if the climate does not support production it will result in crop failure. Therefore, it is necessary to empower farmer communities to utilize the agricultural waste they manage, to become another energy so that it can be used or supplied easily as an opportunity to increase farmers' income from other industrial sectors.Oyster mushroom baglog can be used as fuel briquettes. The briquettes are developed by utilizing the remaining bag logs of white oyster mushrooms (waste) to become charcoal briquettes as the alternative energy. Oyster mushrooms as agricultural products have considerable market potential, but the hitch lies on the non-optimal use of technology to produce more innovative products. In the process of producing oyster mushrooms, the use of heat energy for the baglog sterilization is done by evaporation.  The fact that the evaporation process still uses diesel or gas fuel, motivate the researcher to develop the innovation by processing oyster mushrooms baglog into briquettes to be used for the evaporation process in the sterilization of bag logs production. The briquette industry can also be used for the benefit of home industries to replace gas fuel and other small industries that require fuel energy.The investment value of the briquette industry project of oyster mushroom baglog waste is Rp.150,000,000, consisting of warehouse facilities, notarial charges/licensing fees, land rent, office equipment, hydraulic machinery, printing tables, mixers and dryers, kiln combustion, workshops plan, and operational vehicles. The profit in 1 year is Rp.118,320,000 with the BEP in the 8th month is Rp.151,200,000.