KUALA LUMPUR: JustGood Group, a food distribution network company that uses end-to-end traceability practices, has identified a few potential partner farms that could become part of its smart precision farming networks in the country.
JustGood Group founder and group managing director Zachary Aman said the company is currently working with a few partners to sell their fresh vegetables through its platform after a strict evaluation process.
"This exercise will continue as we expand our range of fresh vegetables to be available on the platform and spreading it across geographies to reduce potential risks," he told The New Strait Times.
"We are open to new partnerships that can expand our smart farming business model to other areas in Malaysia and establish new markets overseas," he said, adding that the focus on partnership will be on tech companies and startups that have a good business plan.
JustGood currently has a 4ha land in Batang Berjuntai. It cultivates ten types of vegetables, with nine grown indoors and one outdoors, using various planting methods to produce fresh vegetables using smart farming methods.
"We start production at Batang Berjuntai farm in February 2021. Simply put, we are practitioners of precision agriculture or smart precision farming," Zachary said.
Currently, the farm produces 970 kilogrammes of nine different types of vegetables a month via one smart greenhouse and one conventional greenhouse.
The company aims to increase the number of smart greenhouses between 4-6 by the end-2021 at its Batang Berjuntai farm.
Each smart greenhouse is about 6,000 sq ft and can produce 1.6 tonnes of fresh vegetables a month.
Zachary pointed out that JustGood builds on an efficient food distribution network, from its farms to its smart distribution centre to the consumers' kitchens and plates.
The ecosystem is divided into components covering the 'first to the last mile' and efficiently reaching a particular consumption point.
"It is all about producing quality and chemical pesticide-free food in a shorter chain that brings benefit to the people in the supply chain.
"We are growing highland crops in lowland in controlled environments 50km-60km away from downtown Kuala Lumpur.
"We are pushing the boundaries of what can be done. For example, the highland crops that we grow based on literature can only thrive in 18-23 degrees Celsius water, but we are growing them at 28-29 degrees Celsius," he said when elaborating on smart farming and smart greenhouse technologies.
He said this requires effort in research and development (R&D) in growing the produce, starting with the crop type and progressing to the seed source and variant, among other things.
"What we learn and achieve on our own farms through research and development and farm operations, we pass on to our partner farmers as a benefit of being a part of our network," Zachary said.
According to 2020 statistics, agriculture contributed 101.5 billion to Malaysia's gross domestic product (GDP), with other crops accounting for 25.9 per cent of total agricultural output, including fruits and vegetables.
Additionally, Zachary said the company is in the process of improving its distribution channels and online presence, which will include increased interaction through social media platforms.