The Doctoral Service team of Universitas Brawijaya (UB) chaired by Dr. Ir. Sri Minarti, MP., HDI, ASEAN Eng. (Faculty of Animal Husbandry), with Jamila Wijayanti, S.S., M.Pd. (Faculty of Cultural Studies), Dr. Desi Prianti, S. Sos, M. Comn. (Faculty of Social and Political Sciences), Prof. Dr. Ir. Lilik Eka Radiati (Faculty of Animal Husbandry), and Ria Dewi Andriani, S.Pt, Mp, M.Sc. (Faculty of Animal Husbandry) carried out offline activities with strict health procedures in Magetan.
This Doctoral Service activity carried the theme of ‘Community-Based Rabbit Village Development as a New Tourist Destination and Improvement of Welfare in Tanjungsari Village, Panukan, Magetan’. The background of this activity was that many rabbit farmers have suffered losses during the pandemic due to the lack of empowerment of the quality of human resources.
In this training, each lecturer has their duties. Sri Minarti explained the management of the rabbit village in the form of transportation and rental services, processed rabbit products, playgrounds or rabbit parks, and infrastructure for supporting tourism.
“The benefits of the rabbit village include (1) increasing public attention to the area, (2) increasing community attention and added value to rabbits, (3) creating/ expanding employment opportunities, (4) preventing urbanization, (5) improving the economy/ welfare of the community, (6) saving the environment, (7) exploring and improving local wisdom, (8) providing affordable food sources, and (9) assisting local governments in improving the provision of services for their citizens,” explained Sri Minarti
“Moreover, in the next three years, rabbit farmers must pay attention to improving the quality of developing rabbit farming, producing complete feed, developing processed products, and processing manure,” she added.
Desi Prianti delivered her training on ‘The Benefits of Regional Branding (Destination Branding)’, namely how to build a consistent narrative and identify the most attractive or most prominent assets to attract the attention of customers and visitors or potential customers and potential visitors.
“On this occasion, we build a consistent narrative about the Tanjungsari Villages, Panekan, Magetan so that they can stand out compared to their competitors. The assets owned will become an image among the public. With this, people will easily recognize the object of the destination,” she explained.
“Regarding destination branding, we need to build a brand image that can be communicated consistently. It can be used for logos, slogans, posters, and products so that the potential visitors can immediately associate the rabbit village with Tanjungsari, Panekan, Magetan,” she said.
“There are several logos that can be used to promote the rabbit village in Tanjungsari Village, Panekan, Magetan and to describe Tanjungsari as a center for rabbit breeders,” she stated.
At the end of the presentation, Desi conveyed three things that must be considered in creating destination branding.
“Educational, meaning that visitors can participate in processing rabbit products. Fun, it offers a variety of activities that can be followed by teenagers and families. Clean, to attract visitors,” she concluded.
Ria Dewi Andriani trained the participants to make rabbit meatballs, rabbit nuggets, and rabbit shreds. This team launched their products at an event organized by the Department of Animal Husbandry and Fisheries of Magetan Regency. They have a booth to market processed products from rabbit meat.
The pandemic is one reason to introduce processed rabbit products online. Therefore, Jamila Wijayanti explained the material on ‘Introduction to Online Product Marketing’ and its strategies.
“The pandemic has limited human activities and has forced all activities to be carried out online. Likewise, in the economic sector, buying and selling are almost entirely carried out online. So are the souvenirs of this rabbit product. So, this encourages this team to design an online shop to market processed rabbit products,” she explained.
“The first day, we brought rabbit farmers from Tanjungsari and Sumberdodol villages. Then, on the second day, they invited PKK members for training in making foods from rabbit meat. On the first day, the Head of the Livestock and Fisheries Service Office of Magetan Regency visited the training site to provide support for this activity. This activity is good because it provides alternative solutions,” she concluded. [DTS]
