Types of Agricultural Waste and Their Management – Agriculture is one of the sectors that is widely used as a livelihood by the people of Indonesia. Therefore, it will be quite easy to find agricultural land in the Indonesian region. Along with this, agricultural waste appears and becomes one of the problems in agriculture. Agricultural waste is part of the results of agricultural management that is left over or not needed. In other words, agricultural waste is waste or waste products from agricultural products.
Types of Agricultural Waste
Agricultural waste is divided into three types, namely based on source, time, and form. Here is an explanation.
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Agricultural Waste Based on the Source of Income
Based on the source, agricultural waste is grouped into food crop waste, horticultural crop waste, plantation crop waste, livestock waste and municipal waste.
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Food Crop Waste and examples
Food crop waste originates from the processing of food crops, such as rice, corn, cassava, soybeans, green beans, and peanuts. Food crop waste is often used as raw material for the management of fertilizers or organic fertilizers. Food crops that are suitable for use as fertilizer are rice, corn and cassava. Corn plant waste can also be used as a tool for packaging traditional foods, such as diamonds and dodol.
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Horticultural Plant Waste: Vegetables and Fruits
Vegetables and fruits that are damaged or do not meet sales quality will become agricultural waste. Vegetable crop waste can come from the management of agricultural products such as shallots, garlic, potatoes, cabbage, cauliflower, carrots, radishes, red beans, long beans, chilies, peppers, tomatoes, green beans, kale, spinach, cucumbers and other types of vegetables. . Fruit crop waste can come from managing agricultural products such as avocado, starfruit, grapes, apples, mangoes, mangosteen, papaya, durian and other types of fruit. This waste can be used as animal feed and materials for making compost or organic fertilizer.
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Plantation Plant Waste and examples
Plantation waste comes from managing plantation products, such as coconut, oil palm, tea, coffee, cloves, cocoa, cashew and sugarcane. Waste from oil palm, tea, coffee, clove, cocoa, cashew, and sugarcane is suitable for use as material for making organic fertilizer. Meanwhile, waste from coconut plants can be used as material for making charcoal as well as crafts or raw materials for home industries, such as doormats.
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Livestock Waste and examples
Livestock is one of the biggest waste producers and continues to increase along with the increase in the number of livestock. Livestock waste comes from the management of dairy cows, beef cattle, buffaloes, horses, sheep, goats, pigs and poultry. Livestock waste is very suitable for use as organic fertilizer or compost fertilizer, both in solid and liquid form. The waste from the management of dairy weans, beef cattle, broiler chickens, native chickens, and laying hens is the most suitable for use in composting. In addition, livestock waste can also be used in the manufacture of biogas.
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Urban Organic Waste
The amount of waste in urban areas is increasing along with the increase in population. Several cities with the highest waste production in Indonesia, namely Jakarta, Surabaya, Semarang, Bandung and Surakarta. Organic waste in urban areas can be used as material for making compost or organic fertilizer and for bioenergy production.
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Agricultural Waste Based on Time of Production
Based on the time, agricultural waste is divided into three, namely pre-harvest waste, during harvest, and post-harvest waste.
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Preharvest Waste
Preharvest waste is waste that is collected before or while the main agricultural products are being harvested, such as mushrooms, leaves, stems, plant branches and animal waste.
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Waste When Harvesting
Waste during harvest is waste generated during the harvest season, such as corn straw, rice straw, sorghum, banana fronds, banana leaves, and peanut straw.
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Postharvest Waste
Post-harvest waste is waste that collects after the harvest process, such as skin, blood, offal, coconut shell, coconut fiber, coarse husks, bran, meni, and damaged fruit or vegetables. Agricultural industry waste is also part of the postharvest waste. This waste comes from factories or agricultural product processing industries.
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Agricultural Waste Based on Its Form
Based on its form, agricultural waste is divided into three types, namely solid waste, liquid waste and gaseous waste.
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Solid waste
Solid waste can come from pre-harvest waste, harvest waste, post-harvest waste, and agricultural industrial waste, such as dry leaves, straw, coir and coconut shells, and tofu dregs. If this solid waste is allowed to accumulate, it will cause environmental pollution and give rise to animals, such as flies, cockroaches and rats, which can carry various disease-causing germs.
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Liquid waste
Liquid waste is usually generated from the process of cleaning food ingredients and equipment for processing agricultural products, leftover liquid fertilizer, and other materials (dirt) that are washed away. The liquid waste will cause microorganisms to multiply rapidly because it contains a lot of organic matter in the form of nutrients. The microorganism proliferation process can use up the dissolved oxygen in the water so that the water becomes dirty and gives off a bad smell.
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Gas Waste
Gas waste is generated in the processing of agricultural products, such as water vapor from the process of reducing the water content during withering of tea and drying it. Waste gas needs to be channeled through a chimney so as not to cause a hazard.
Various organic agricultural products and sustainable agricultural solutions can be studied through the following book.
Agricultural Waste Management
As a waste product or waste product, agricultural waste can have a negative impact if it is not managed properly. However, if managed optimally, agricultural waste will provide great benefits. Here are some forms of agricultural waste management.
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Agricultural Waste as Organic Fertilizer
Agricultural waste originating from food crops, plantations, forestry and animal husbandry, such as straw, cassava, corn stalks and cobs, rice husks, weeds, banana stems, coconut husks and livestock manure can be processed into compost through the composting process. Composting is the utilization of organic matter through a biological decomposition process. The process of making compost is done by mixing the ingredients in a balanced manner by providing sufficient water, adjusting aeration, and adding composting activators.
Mixing dry agricultural waste, such as plant residues, dry leaves, and swept waste is necessary to improve the quality of compost and compost yield. The use of compost can increase soil fertility, increase soil organic matter content, and increase the soil’s ability to retain soil water content. Microbial activity from the use of this fertilizer will also help plant growth so that the quality tends to be better than plants fertilized with chemical fertilizers. Other benefits of using compost are saving on transportation costs and waste disposal, reducing waste, having a higher selling value, reducing air pollution due to waste burning, and increasing land use due to reduced waste accumulation.
The management of organic fertilizer from agricultural waste can be seen in the following book.
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Agricultural Waste as Control of Plant Diseases
Besides being used as a fertilizer that improves soil elements, agricultural waste can also be used to control plant diseases. The use of agricultural waste, such as chicken and cow manure, both fresh and fermented, has been able to control plant diseases.
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Agricultural Waste as Livestock Feed
Agricultural waste, such as rice straw, corn straw, soybean straw, cassava shoots, sweet potato straw, and peanut straw, can be used as a source of animal feed. Utilization of agricultural waste as livestock feed is done by drying the waste in the sun for 3-4 days. Utilization of agricultural waste as a source of animal feed can also be done through the fermentation process. The fermentation process can increase the nutritional content of animal feed. Fermentation can be done through the use of enzyme-producing microorganisms that will break down crude fiber and increase the protein content.
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Agricultural Waste as Craft Material
Various agricultural waste products can be used as materials for making handicrafts. One of the materials that can be processed for crafts is banana stems. Banana stems can be made into paper through several stages. First, cut the banana stem into small pieces with a size of about 25 cm. Then, dry the pieces in the sun to dry. Then mash the pieces of banana stems until they become soft by adding formalin or caustic soda to remove the sap and speed up the softening of the banana stems. After the banana stems become soft, clean and blend until it becomes mush. Shape or print the material into sheets of paper and dry in the sun until the sheets of paper dry.
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Agricultural Waste as Cultivation Products
Onggok is one of the agricultural wastes that can be used as a processing material for aquaculture products. Onggok comes from the processing of cassava into tapioca. Onggok is one of the agricultural wastes that has a high level of pollution. Onggok requires a large enough amount of oxygen for its decomposition process so if it is just thrown away it will take up oxygen reserves in the disposal area. This will cause an imbalance in the ecosystem and a bad smell that will pollute the environment. To avoid environmental pollution, cassava needs to be used optimally. One form of utilizing cassava is used as a substitute for straw for mushroom cultivation. In mushroom cultivation, a composting process is carried out which requires moisture, nitrogen sources, and source of cellulose decomposing microorganisms. This process will reduce the level of organic matter contained in the cassava so that if it is removed, it no longer requires a lot of oxygen in the decomposition process.
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Agricultural Waste as Bioenergy (biogas).