Like Jack and the Beanstalk’s magic beans, the government’s free kit of veggie seeds hopes to sprout a giant network of home and community gardens and cut down that monstrous food bill. ELIZABETH JOHN and NURRIS ISHAK give us the plot

FIERY, shiny and imported by the tonne — that’s how Malaysians like the RM3.6 million worth of cili padi that makes its way into sizzling sambals here every month.

The tiny chilli with a scorching reputation grows easily here but daily, the country buys no less than 60 metric tonnes of it from neighbours, accounting for a fair share of the whopping RM1.8 billion annual vegetable import bill.

This is why chilli seeds are being included in a starter kit for urban and rural folk under the government’s new Green Earth Programme to get Malaysians growing their own greens.

The scheme will see selected urban residents get a RM15 kit to grow vegetables like long beans, lady’s fingers and cucumber.
The RM15 veggie kit includes fertiliser and a leaflet on the cultivation and care of these plants.

In rural areas, apart from growing vegetables, selected residents could get a chicken or fish-farming kit.

The chicken farming kit, worth RM400, includes 25 2-month-old chicks, a cover (serkop) and two months’ supply of feed.

The fish farming kit, costing about RM1,300, comes with 400 catfish fry and fish food that should produce for the farmer about 70kg of fish.

“No participant will get all three kits. The idea is to distribute the facilities in order to get as many people as possible involved in the project,” explained Agriculture and Agro-based Industries Minister Datuk Mustapa Mohamed.

Close to RM26 million has been allocated for the urban and rural programmes, with the bulk of expenditure going towards the vegetable kits.

The ministry estimates that this portion of the project will produce 24,375 metric tonnes of vegetables valued at about RM35.5 million, and account for four per cent of total vegetable consumption.

The 660,000 participants from 7,000 villages under rural programmes will be chosen with the help of village security and development committees.

Villagers in Malacca and Negri Sembilan will be the first to kick off the project which will go nationwide by the end of next month, said Mustapa.

Urban gardeners will be selected with the help of residents’ associations and the projects will be divided between community gardening and home gardening projects.

In the administrative capital of Putrajaya, pilot community gardens have sprung up in Precinct 8 and 9 with government officers and clerical staff trading briefcases and uniforms for gloves and spades after working hours.

Mustapa explained that one family would attend to one bund in a communal plot that’s made up of a number of raised rows of earth. The family can consume the produce and exchange or sell the surplus at a stall in Putrajaya’s weekly pasar tani.

Meanwhile, 10 homeowners who live in houses with compounds have already planted the first chilli seeds of the “edible landscape for kitchen garden” scheme. Another 40 households will join them soon.

As the greens from the veggie kits are expected to save households about RM10 a week, Mustapa said the ministry wants as many participants as possible from the lower-income group to get involved.

However, he admitted that the ministry has yet to consider how the urban poor, many of whom live in cramped high-rise flats, will find the space for such a project.

Currently, the ministry is working with local councils to identify plots where this group of people can farm communally.

While growing greens seems like a simple task, all participants must get a briefing. Those in Putrajaya are also being taught how to make their own compost and start their own nursery.

Budding gardeners will be closely monitored, said Mustapa who doesn’t want the Green Earth programme to end up a one-off effort like some of its predecessors.

There’ve been several rounds of the green programme — from Tun Razak’s Green Book policy in 1974 to vegetable planting projects during the economic crisis of 1997 and 1998.

In 2006, under a similar project, more than 30,000 people were involved in vegetable-cultivating activities, producing 196 metric tonnes of vegetables and herbs valued at about RM532,000.

Last year, the ministry’s figures showed that more than 64,000 people were involved in producing 1,049 metric tonnes of vegetables valued at RM3.113 million while 425 people partook in chicken farming, and 212 reared catfish in canvas tanks.

“We found that some continued but others treated it as a one-off effort.

“It was our biggest challenge before; that people didn’t persevere with the programme.

“We’ll have the Agriculture Department officers monitoring participants and we’ll ask residents’ associations and village committees to encourage them to keep up with the work,” said Mustapa.

Slacking gardeners won’t be penalised but those who want to continue after this harvest will have to buy the seeds for their hot and spicy chillies — at a subsidised price of course.