National Food Security: Kickstart your Horticulture

 

By Stephen Ng

Let me begin by saying that I do not have green fingers, yet two papaya trees in front of my house have been producing some of the sweetest fruits for the past six months.

      Most importantly, the fruits are free and fresh from the trees. Having tried vegetables in my small garden to making bean sprouts, I find that growing papaya trees is the easiest to handle.

      All you need is just to put the seeds into the soil, and a few months down the road, you are ready to harvest your fruits.

      In our efforts to improve our national food security, we should all cultivate our own fruit trees. Those who have green fingers should cultivate the vegetables in their small gardens.

Suggestions

      If we can increase our production of our local fruits, we would not need to buy them from farmers. This would allow our farmers to focus on exporting their fruits overseas, making Malaysia a net exporter of local fruits.

      Here are some suggestions for everyone:

• ·      Senior citizens with green fingers should get together and discuss with the school principals to allow them to utilize the school compound to plant fruit trees. They can also work together with the students to plant vegetables. During the fruiting season, the children would have plenty of fruits to eat. A whole class can enjoy one jackfruit for free.
• ·     Parks are grown with flowers and other shrubs to beautify the area. Why not plant a row of mango trees along the peripheral area of the park? I have seen this in Garden Avenue in Seremban Two and each time, during the fruiting season, there are plenty of mangoes to be plucked. Resident Associations can even organise fruit parties for the residents or if there is excess to deliver to homes for the senior citizens and orphanages. The same concept can be adopted by condominiums and apartments. Instead of a barren tree beside the swimming pool, can’t a fruit tree be planted which allows people to pluck and enjoy the fruits while having a swim?
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•      Instead of using agrochemicals which can be harmful to human health, I may dig a hole in the soil near the plant and place an open-ended container into the hole so that food wastes can be acted upon by the soil organisms and turned into compost over time. The top part of the container can be covered to keep away from all sorts of pests and insects.
• ·     Those who do not have land to grow can think of using a pail of soil compost to grow some of the smaller plants which bear fruits such as lime or lemons. Admittedly I have not been very successful, but I have seen some friends whose plants bear fruits. The thing I like is that we can also discard food wastes into these bins to allow them to compost slowly and turn into organic fertilisers for the plants.
• ·     For those who are enterprising, this is also a good opportunity to start a small business connecting people who need a gardener with someone who has green fingers. A friend of mine, Grace Wang, who used to plant a lot of vegetables in her garden plot need gardeners to hire, but who can supply? Why can’t someone gather those who need jobs to take on the odd jobs? There are many retirees who need grass cutters and blue collar workers to do odd jobs for them.

      My friends from Sarawak, Hellen and Kenneth Silek have planted lots of fruit trees in their backyard. Some of the flowers are not only beautiful to the eyes, but also edible.

Bunga telang, for example, is good for health tea, or for nyonya flavoured rice. 

They have just recently harvested the fruits from the durian trees that Hellen’s late father had planted. What a legacy to leave behind for the grandchildren who will now get to enjoy the fruits of his labour!

Be Fruitful and Multiply

Most people know Malaysia is a country blessed with plenty of rain and sunshine, yet we are a net importer of foodstuff.

Some of the best fruits are only found in Malaysia. For example, people are crazy over our Musang King.

After reading my blogpost another friend, Freehold Tan wrote: “Seven years ago, I helped a friend to plant a durian orchard in Hulu Langat. Now, the orchard has 50 trees of Musang King, 20 trees of Teka and 10 treese of Black Thorns. The trees are fruiting now.”

Hope this article will inspire you to do something with the idle piece of land in front of your house.