Transformative Cities: CAP’s Urban Farming Project

When 80-year-old Ch’ng Ah Bee first heard that the Senior Citizens Association in Scotland Road, Penang was going to start an eco-farm, she was more than excited as she can now put her gardening skills to good use.

“I used to live in a landed property and had space to have my own little garden where I planted a lot of vegetation,” Ch’ng said. “But when I moved to a condominium, space was limited and I could only grow certain things like chili, curry leaves, mint and some other herbs. When I was told that the Consumers’ Association of Penang (CAP) was coming in to help set up the eco-farm at the association, I was waiting for it.”

The Senior Citizens Association had roped in the help of CAP to get some guidance and help to start the eco-farm at the association’s premises.

The Senior Citizens Association which has 700 members, started the eco-farm some two months ago with 10 active members, who take turns to come in to plant fruit trees, vegetables and herbs at least once a week.

Ann Ng, 67, who was on medication for the past eight to nine years because of her diabetes, says she is now off her medication thanks to a concoction of wild pepper leaves and curry leaves which she boils and drinks the water.

“I have my own little garden at home and I plant wild pepper and curry leaves together with other herbs and vegetables. So, I get my fresh supply of wild pepper and curry leaves right from my very own backyard,” she said.

Ng, who has been coming to help out at the eco-farm, said she is happy coming there.  “It is not only a good therapy but also a good exercise for senior citizens like me,” she said gleefully.

The Senior Citizens Association president Katherine Ong said they moved to the new premises in November 2021.

“When I saw the land available, I knew that we could put it to good use and start an eco-farm to keep our members active and also keep the soil healthy.

“We have so far planted brinjal, corn, ladies finger, spinach, chili, marigold, papaya and we are planning for more with the help and advice from CAP.

“There are also plans for a compost pit so that we can produce our own chemical-free fertilisers for our vegetation,” she added.

Ong also said that once more vegetables are available at the plot, she has plans to start healthy cooking classes at the association for the senior citizens.

Coordinator of the farm Dr Rajeswari Raman said when they first started, CAP officers provided the technical know-how to start a farm.

“We had no experience whatsoever but we learned everything from scratch from CAP right down to making our own pest repellents. We even got our supply of the vermi-compost from CAP,” she said.

Dr Rajeswari said the association also has plans to start a herb garden soon.

The eco-farm at the association is among the many examples that the green wave in Penang seems to be definitely picking up among the young and the old, especially among those living in the urban areas.

With CAP championing and setting the standards behind the urban garden/farm concept for over a decade, the trend is fast catching up.

CAP education officer N.V. Subbarow noted that a few years ago when the then Agricultural Minister told Malaysians that they should look at the alternative of planting their own spinach instead of complaining about the rising prices, there was much hue and cry among the populace.

“These days however many think of that as a workable option as the hike in food prices and the nation’s lack of food security has riled up the people and brought about serious concerns such as higher oil prices and food shortages.

“Today, we are receiving an increasing number of calls from households, housewives on how to do composting, how to have their very own mini garden, and so forth.

“It looks like people are finally embracing the green wave and the time for urban agriculture is here!” he said.

He also pointed out that with prices of vegetables in Malaysia increasing by between 30% and 40% lately, many people are feeling the pinch.

“Instead of waiting for the government to lower the prices, we are asking the folks to grow their own vegetables.

“Growing our own vegetables at home can be cost-effective. Remember that we do not need a big space to grow vegetables.”

“Fruiting plants like okra, brinjal and chili plus leafy vegetables can be easily grown even on balconies. The same goes for spinach and perennial plants like mint,” he said.

Subbarow noted that in an effort for Penangites who live in high-rise buildings to grow their own greens, CAP has been promoting vertical planting units.

“In this way, no one can grumble that they don’t have any land on which to grow vegetables,” he quipped.

The association began the Natural Farming Project 20 years ago, organising awareness progammes nationally to educate farmers about the dire consequences of using chemicals to grow food and to introduce alternative, natural farming techniques. As controlling pests is a major issue that the majority of farmers face, they were taught simplified integrated pest management including how to use different types of herbal plants to make pest repellent preparations.

Experts from India were also brought in to give Malaysian farmers confidence, with study tours to India being arranged.

Over the years, the project was extended to homes and schools to educate the larger community on the importance of growing our own food, which is safer, cheaper and more nutritious.

When CAP’s Home Garden project was launched, it attracted urbanites who were becoming more aware of environmental issues and concerned about eating chemical-laden food, opting to grow their own.

In 2004, CAP converted its car park area to grow fruits, vegetables and herbs and to do research and develop agroecological methods; and to train the community.

“This resulted in a revolution of sorts as people began to notice how over-reliance on modern technology brought about despair and disappointment.

“People, especially urbanites took note of how CAP made good use of local and traditional knowledge to create innovative ideas for them to embark on starting their very own urban gardens in their own backyards,” said CAP research officer Mageswari Sangaralingam.

She said the association has been involved in chemical-free gardening/ farming all these years to address the growing health concerns among the people.

“We want people to wean themselves from a dependence on chemical-based farming. Today, we have some 70 types of vegetables and 50 types of herbs grown on rotation basis here in our office premises and the number is increasing,” she noted.

However, there is still the problem of space for urban gardens, especially in high-rise buildings in the city.

“We are trying to get the people to change their mindset about needing a bigger space to grow vegetables or herbs. We want people to be innovative for instance to use discarded containers and vertical kits to grow their greens,” she added.

Mageswari said that besides encouraging people to grow their own vegetables, CAP is also teaching housewives and households to turn their kitchen waste into compost and growth promoters instead of discarding the waste.

“The practice of composting food waste in the country is still low,” she noted.

Subbarow said that in recent times, an increasing number of households in the country have picked up the practice of composting their food wastes.

“CAP also trains people to make chemical-free compost and home-made fertilisers in their own kitchen such as fish amino solution.

“Instead of asking them to buy fish, we encourage them to collect fish waste or innards for free and they can then get the solution done with molasses or brown sugar,” he said, adding that the fish amino solution is also a chemical-free growth promoter.

Another effort CAP has embarked on lately is to encourage farmers and the public to save their own seeds and share it with their friends and neighbours.

“Seed sharing is a great way to source our plants.

“Instead of depending on what big agri-businesses want to sell in the market, people can now manage his or her own seed resources by saving seeds from the best plants,” he said.

In this way, future seeds will become more adaptive and be able to sustain and grow in particular climatic and soil conditions.

In a move to start them young, CAP has started edible gardens, herbal corners and composting units at schools so that teachers, students and school gardeners can work together to grow chemical-free plants and vegetables.

“The children get to learn about farming, gardening, why earthworms are important, why you need to keep your soil healthy and what you can do with your kitchen waste, farm waste, and garden waste. Sometimes schools buy the plants from CAP, or if we have funds we will give them free.

“Many urban children are unaware where their food comes from and think that vegetables come from supermarkets,” he added.

Among the schools that started early is SMK Convent Butterworth, which has an urban garden on its premises.

The garden had taken shape on a 140sq m plot in the school compound since April 1, 2016.

The school’s co-curriculum senior assistant Phan Cheng Mun said it was an uphill battle when they first wanted to start an urban garden at the school.

“It is not easy to get students to be involved in gardening as some do not want to touch the soil and get dirty. The school did not even have a big field as the whole school was only occupying a one-acre plot.

“With the advice from CAP officers who had visited our school, we started with vertical plants along the walls and walkways of the school building using recyclable plastic bottles.

“As we progressed, whatever land we could find at the school, we planted greens such as winter melon, passion fruit, tapioca, leafy vegetables and herbs. When the garden started bearing fruits and vegetables, more students came in to join our efforts,” she said.

Today, the school has about 20 students that are members of the Green Squad who volunteer their time to make the school’s urban garden a success.

Recently all their efforts paid off when the school won the Green Flag award by WWF Malaysia for its green initiatives.

The school has also a Food Waste project where any food wastes or leftovers are collected from the school canteen and with the help of the students, the wastes are separated while the canteen operators chip in by putting them into the compost containers.

“With the technical know-how provided by CAP, we are also collaborating with vendors at wet markets here to get fish waste such as innards to do the fish amino solution, which is a natural growth promoter.

“We bottle them and sell them to the public at several wet markets as one way of raising funds for the school,” she explained.

Phan said even during the Covid-19 Movement Control Order (MCO) which resulted in the students being unable to attend school, the school kept its urban garden project going by having the school gardeners come in to do the necessary work.

“In the past, we have won many Sekolah Hijau (Green School) awards and we are proud of our achievements.

“We are actively continuing our planting and replanting works at the garden and looking forward to taking part in more competitions and winning awards.

“When we first started, our intention was to encourage our students to learn about the benefits of growing and eating chemical-free greens.

“However, with the advice and new ideas brought in by CAP, we are today winning all these awards and getting recognition. We cannot thank CAP enough for all their guidance,” she added.

 

 

Mohideen Abdul Kader
President
Consumers’ Association of Penang

 

Note:

The Consumers’ Association of Penang (CAP) is one of twelve inspiringstories of local transformation shortlisted for the 2022 TransformativeCities People’s Choice Award. Transformative Cities is a global processto search and support transformative practices and responses that aretackling global crises at the local level. You can vote for theinitiative that you find deserves more attention and resources to scaleup until the 6th of November at: https://transformativecities.org/2022award/