Application of Appropriate Technology for the Development of Feed Sources of Fe and Zinc as Mitigation of Reducing Stunting Prevalence in Kulon Progo

Stunting is one of the priority health and nutrition problems in Indonesia. In the 2020-2024 National Medium Term Development Plan (RPJMN), the government targets the stunting rate to be 14%. The stunting rate in Indonesia using UN standards is still above 20 percent (BKKBN sources say 24.4 %). The handling of stunting cannot only target the stunting toddler group. Involving one life cycle from young women, pregnant women, and toddlers becomes a critical window in specific interventions to prevent and treat stunting. Therefore, awareness for fulfilling nutrition is an awareness that needs to be grown on a family basis. In farming families, it can be started by developing food sources and/or animal feeds with high Fe and Zn content, one of which is Tropical Alfalfa or Kacang Ratu BW as a functional feed/food source towards eradicating stunting. Program activity was the dissemination of this tropical alfalfa throughout Indonesia and one of its demonstration plots in the Mekar Farmers Group of Nglinggo, Samigaluh, through an appropriate technology scheme. The method used is learning by doing. In parallel, education on stunting was carried out. On the other hand, the community prepares feed ingredients that can be implemented in livestock to produce food/food rich in Fe and Zn. The results of the pre-test and post-test showed an increase in understanding of stunting, where before the program, 40% understood what stunting was, while the post-test results showed figures of 87-100%. Before the program, 0% knew tropical alfalfa. After the program, 93% not only knew but also planted. Massively developing feed ingredients sourced from Fe and Zn and implementing them in every family will become a solid nutritional foundation for a family-based stunting reduction mitigation pattern.