ABSTRACT

The community's dependence on rice as a staple food has resulted in local food diversification not being optimally developed, even though alternative commodities such as job's tears (Coix lacryma-jobi L.) and sorghum have the potential to support food security while increasing the community's economic value. This community service activity aimed to increase the knowledge and awareness of PKK mothers in Dadapan Village, Lamongan, regarding job's tears and sorghum cultivation as a food substitute solution, as well as introduce opportunities for processing these two commodities into high-value products. The methods used included socialization, counseling, participatory discussions, and evaluation through question and answer sessions with participants. The activity was carried out using an educational-participatory approach involving PKK mothers as the main target of empowerment. The results of the activity showed an increase in participants' understanding (total of 17% of respondents strongly agreed, while 77%) agreed of the benefits of job's tears and sorghum cultivation, the potential for food diversification, and opportunities for developing processed products such as flour, cookies, noodles, and other innovative foods. Participants also showed enthusiasm and interest in developing local food-based businesses as a source of additional household income. This activity demonstrates that community education and empowerment through the introduction of job's tears (jawn) and sorghum can be an initial strategy to support food security, consumption diversification, and sustainable community economic empowerment.

Keywords : community empowerment, food diversification, food security, job's tears (jawn), sorghum

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