| Universiti Putra Malaysia

UPM helps Serdang community create urban agriculture

By Rudie bin Tajuddin @ Ta

 

SERI SERDANG, May 6, 2020 - Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) has organised a community development programme on urban agriculture attended by 40 residents of PKNS Seri Kembangan and Seri Indah apartments in Serdang here recently.

The programme was carried out in collaboration with the University Community Transformation Centre (UCTC), Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences and Faculty of Agriculture. A discussion was held with the residents on the community development programme that could bring change to the residents.

According to UPM Project Leader, Muhammad Adip Mohd Tamami, 30, the urban agriculture project organised by UPM is able to provide exposure to the residents on the importance of having their crops which are halal, and reducing the cost of growing vegetables for daily use and generating extra income.

“As a knowledge transfer programme, this programme has made a very positive impact in a short term when the residents have begun showing interest in urban agriculture and displaying confidence to share the knowledge they have gained to others”.

"As such, they are also agents of extension to other communities in line with the aspiration of UCTC UPM to strengthen the importance of knowledge transfer and hope the people who have received the training will train more participants in the future," he said.

Muhammad Adip anticipated that after 6 months, the project would be able to produce crops for daily use by the community in their respective blocks and even sell them to the surrounding communities.

“Our plan is to create a sales centre to gather crops produced by each block and sell them to nearby markets”.

“Through this community programme, it is hoped that unity can be nurtured, and the residents can determine their future direction themselves. Experts from UPM will identify future community projects to change the mindset of the residents based on the outcome of the research conducted by UPM,” he said.

A resident, Suboh Kasim, 54, said the agricultural knowledge shared by UPM not only taught them on how to produce their vegetables but also allowed the residents to exchange ideas and share their produce with communities from different residential blocks.

“The community in each residential block has successfully developed their crop plots according to the agricultural knowledge transferred by UPM.”

"Among the vegetables produced are mustard greens, kailan, spinach, lemongrass, kesum, Brazilian spinach, torch ginger flower, ladies fingers, herb salad and fruits," he said.

According to the chairperson of the PKNS Seri Kembangan resident association committee, Halizan Yusof, 59, the implementation of the urban agriculture project was practical in encouraging the residents to grow vegetables around their homes.

"The residents can reduce their daily expenses as the cost of living in urban areas can be very costly," added Halizan. - UPM

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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