Sustainable Economic Practices at Padarincang Islamic Boarding School 

The majority of people in Cisauk Village and Batu Kuwung Village, Padarincang, Banten depend on agricultural practices for their livelihood. However, this business is threatened by the presence of investment plans for the construction of a geothermal power plant (PLTPb). The very large need for water for geothermal will certainly take up the share of the community's agricultural water needs. Not to mention, geothermal development will also increase the potential for other disasters, such as drought, flooding, and landslides.

The negative impact will certainly also be felt by the Furu Raudatul Baqiat Islamic Boarding School (Ponpes) located in the same sub-district. As of 20214, the Padarincang community has been persistently rejecting the construction of the PLTPb for 15 years, including Furu Raudatul Baqiat and several other Islamic boarding schools in this area. The action of the Padarincang residents temporarily succeeded in stopping the construction of the PLTPb, although it has not been completely canceled.

To strengthen the movement forward, Furu Raudatul Baqiat Islamic Boarding School chose an alternative path, namely strengthening the economy with environmentally friendly sustainable agriculture. The focus is also emphasized on increasing the capacity of students as provisions after graduation. With the support of the Nusantara Fund Direct Funding, various efforts around sustainable agriculture. The activities include training in goat feed management, training in reading seasonal calendars and land use, introduction to the risks and benefits of environmentally friendly agriculture, and training in biogas and organic fertilizer management. 

The determination of the topic of environmentally friendly agriculture is related to agricultural practices carried out by the community around the Islamic boarding school. The majority of agriculture around the Islamic boarding school is managed using chemicals. That is the main goal of increasing the capacity of students, namely to integrate agriculture in the Islamic boarding school with community agriculture as well as to influence the surrounding community to practice sustainable agriculture that is free from the use of chemicals.

In its implementation, the program at Furu Raudatul Islamic Boarding School also shares roles with other Islamic boarding schools, such as Barakatul Ad'iyah Islamic Boarding School and Darul Murokobah Islamic Boarding School. Therefore, the training participants are also students from the 3 Islamic boarding schools and the Padarincang community who are interested in the topic of sustainable agriculture. In addition to training, the Nusantara Fund Direct Funding is also used to procure goat mothers that are distributed to the three Islamic boarding schools. The goats will later support sustainable agricultural practices in the three Islamic boarding schools, both from livestock breeding and from the manure produced. 

The implementation of the program at the Islamic boarding school also has its challenges, such as during biogas management training. Because there is equipment that must be purchased from outside Padarincang and of course will increase the budget, finally the training is only carried out on the delivery of theory or not until the manufacture of the biogas tank installation. Likewise regarding the care of goats. In the three Islamic boarding schools, some of the goats that were cared for died due to illness. However, over time, the students now understand how to recognize the signs of sick goats and how to handle them.

This program directly benefits the students and Islamic boarding schools involved in capacity building training activities. However, if we talk about broad impacts, this program also has the opportunity to provide benefits to the community around the Islamic boarding school in Padarincang, especially when talking about the impact of implementing sustainable agricultural training on the wider community.