SHAH ALAM: Sime Darby Property Bhd has launched the Elmina Community Edible Gardens at the City of Elmina, a 5,000-acre development and the first township in Malaysia dedicated to wellness and liveability.
The community edible gardens is a new initiative by Sime Darby Property with the support of the community and Shah Alam City Council (MBSA), providing residents with the space to grow vegetables and herbs, while at the same time nurturing healthy relationships within the community.
The Community Edible Gardens has over 100 plots at the Elmina Central Park in Elmina West.
Sime Darby Property hopes to increase the allotments and will be introducing similar initiatives across other development phases in the City of Elmina, subject to suitability of the area and response from the residents.
Sime Darby Property aims to establish community edible gardening as a key part of sustainable living for the future. This includes linking the Community Edible Gardens with an organic waste recycling programme.
It also aims to coordinate more programmes with MBSA and other organisations to support the community and share knowledge for a more wholesome living.
“A thriving and vibrant community is only achievable by nurturing strong and healthy relationships between residents and through encouraging an active lifestyle,’ Sime Darby Property general manager Appollo Leong said at the launch on Saturday.
“There is nothing more important than establishing a functional community to ensure prosperity and harmony within the township,” he added.
Community gardening makes lives of Elmina West residents more sustainable and reduces carbon emissions.
By growing locally, Leong said the community consumes locally and buys locally, without the need for additional logistics which may harm the environment in the long run.
The community edible gardens concept is one of the township’s sustainability features that was included in the Elmina township master plan.
Leong said the gardens supported the township’s eight pillars of wellness that cover spiritual, social, emotional, environmental, physical, intellectual, occupational and family.
Besides providing the community with constant food supply, the initiative promotes co-operation and togetherness -- a platform that builds caring communities.