Gadjah Mada University started the development of Pagilaran agro-tourism in Batang Regency, Central Java, which involved PT Pagilaran as a business unit under the guidance of UGM and local communities living around the tea plantations. The inauguration of the agro-tourism development was marked by the laying of the first stone by the UGM Director of Business Development and Incubation, Dr. Hargo Utomo, Director of Pagilaran, Rahmat Gunadi, and Regent of Batang, Wihaji.
The plan is that to develop this tea agro-tourism, constructions will be carried out to make an amphitheater that can accommodate 1,000 people. After that, it will be continued with the construction of 15 standard cottages for 4-star hotels, 15 glamor camping spots, a premium cafe on top of Kupel hill, and a tea house. In the near future, the construction of a culinary center, parking lot and amphitheater will soon be built. The physical construction project is targeted to be completed by mid-2021.
Hargo Utomo said that the development of agro-tourism is one of the innovations made by Pagilaran in maximizing the potential of tea plantations not only to grow as a technology-based industry, but also as a location for future tourist destinations. Even so, Pagilaran remains committed to increasing the export of national tea production. “The development of agro-tourism is a form of UGM’s commitment to implementing the Tridarma of higher education, we want this industry to grow and develop together with the community,” said Hargo, Friday (7/2) at Pagilaran Tea Plantation, Batang, Central Java.
Hargo said that Pagilaran is one of the national tea plantation industries which other than being able to grow efficiently, is also able to increase productivity, and implement technology-based innovations. However, the consequences of increasing productivity and innovation inevitably reduces the use of human resources hence new innovations are needed so that human labor is not replaced by technological machines. “We are forming new institutional innovations, people-owned enterprises together with Pagilaran to accommodate the use of human resources in other fields to support the plantation industry, especially in tourism with nuances of education, entertainment and environmental sustainability,” he said.
Director of PT Pagilaran, Rahmad Gunadi, said PT Pagilaran together with the community will manage the tea plantation agro-tourism to support the existence of local communities and human resources who have been working under the auspices of the tea plantation industry which has an area of 1,113 hectares. “With the addition of technology to increase productivity, labor absorption will certainly be reduced. How could Pagilaran be great if we can’t recruit large numbers of people? Therefore, we will manage the Pagilaran agro-tourism with the community,” he said.
According to him, to support the development of agro-tourism, apart from involving the community through cooperatives and tourism managers, PT Pagilaran also hopes for support from the government in the infrastructure sector, especially the improvement of road and bridge access from the Batang Regency Government.
The Regent of Batang said that he appreciated the innovation made by PT Pagilaran which would develop a tea plantation as a new tourist destination in the Batang area. “If this is serious, we will build bridges and roads but tourism promotion must be extraordinary. The most important thing is that there are direct benefits from the community,” he said.
To PT Pagilaran, which has more than 1,000 hectares of land, Wihaji asked for a minimum of only 10 hectares of land to be used for agro-tourism development. “This is a tremendous strength if it is managed for agro-tourism,” he said.
He hopes that the efforts in this agro-tourism development project will grow PT Pagilaran as a plantation industry that continues to make progress and develop together with the community. “If it grows, the residents will have better economy,” he said.
The launch of the new agro-tourism development in Pagilaran, apart from laying the groundwork, was also marked by planting tea and shade trees in the area around the tea plantation as PT Pagilaran’s commitment to rehabilitating the tea garden.
Source: https://ugm.ac.id/id/berita/19003-ugm-kembangkan-destinasi-agrowisata-teh-pagilaran
