Community Empowerment
Vol. 11 No. 2 (2026)

Empowering women farmer groups through post-harvest innovation: Upgrading and marketing California papaya products in Sleman

Retty Ikawati (Universitas Ahmad Dahlan)
Arsyad Cahya Subrata (Universitas Ahmad Dahlan)
Titisari Juwitaningtyas (Universitas Ahmad Dahlan)
Fityatul Nurbaiti (Universitas Ahmad Dahlan)
Haidar Usman Hakim (Universitas Ahmad Dahlan)
Amiresti Hakimatul Mahira (Universitas Ahmad Dahlan)
Ainin Nuzha Izzatin Fauzia (Universitas Ahmad Dahlan)
Azfa Rahmawan (Universitas Ahmad Dahlan)



Article Info

Publish Date
20 Apr 2026

Abstract

The "Rejoarum" Women Farmer Group (KWT) in Pandowoharjo, Sleman, has successfully diversified their local California papaya harvest into three distinct value-added products: Payachips (papaya chips), Papaku (papaya seed coffee substitute), and Noripaya (papaya leaf savory seasoning). Despite these innovations, the group faces significant bottlenecks in product commercialization and market penetration. This community service initiative aims to resolve these downstream challenges by delivering targeted training in advanced food packaging and strategic marketing. The program was executed through a structured framework involving program socialization, hands-on packaging workshops, and strategic business formulation using the Business Model Canvas (BMC). The intervention yielded substantial capacity growth, with participants' understanding soaring to a post-test range of 37%–100%, a marked improvement from the baseline pre-test range of 10%–90%. Tailored marketing frameworks were also established for each product variant based on distinct consumer segments. Ultimately, this training has equipped KWT Rejoarum with the vital entrepreneurial skills and insights necessary to optimize post-harvest management and sustain resilient, independent production cycles.

Copyrights © 2026






Journal Info

Abbrev

ce

Publisher

Subject

Arts Humanities Education Public Health Social Sciences

Description

Community empowerment is a medium for academicians, government, private companies, and social institutions to communicate community empowerment activities. Each published article is expected to provide new insights and inspire activities elsewhere on related ...