Padi in the city: AU2 Keramat Community Garden turns KL concrete jungle into green bliss

KUALA LUMPUR - When you think of padi fields, it conjures up a picture of lush green scenes with scarecrows standing guard and buffaloes casually wading through the muddy waters in a charming village setting.

However, a unique shift in this perception occurs at the AU2 Keramat Community Garden, just six kilometres from the iconic Petronas Twin Towers, where residents of Rumah Pangsa AU2 Keramat engage in a smaller but noteworthy scale of padi cultivation.

Rumah Pangsa AU2 Garden Club chairman Mohamad Halim Mohamad Said, 51, said the padi planting, covering an area of approximately 150 square feet, can produce between five and eight kilogrammes of rice, harvested twice a year.

He said that the initiative, launched in 2017, is designed to provide exposure and educate visitors, particularly youngsters who are interested in gaining insights into padi planting and harvesting processes.

"We began planting padi twice a year in 2017 when a visitor mistakenly thought our padi were chives.

"From there, I learned that even adults who had been eating rice for years were unfamiliar with the padi plant. Since then, we’ve planted padi and lesser-known plants to make this garden an agricultural education hub,” he told Bernama.

According to Halim, the garden, having earned accolades at both state and national levels, also serves as a reference centre for students from abroad and plays a role in contributing to various forms of agricultural research.

"Many students from universities, both locally and internationally, come to us, especially those pursuing master’s and PhD degrees. This year, master’s students from the United States’ fifth-best college in New York visited our garden as part of an urban gardening competition, and they won first place,” he said.

The 0.3-hectare community garden is home to 240 plant species, including padi, local herbs, pandan, lemongrass, Musang King durian, strawberries, grapes, and farm animals including ducks and Holland Lop rabbits.

For ease of identification, each plant in the garden is furnished with a name tag featuring a barcode.

In addition to a rainwater harvesting system for irrigation, the community garden utilises a waste composting system sourced from both yard and food waste, which serves as organic fertiliser for the plants.

Halim also said that the club distributed produce from the garden to the local community at no cost, aiming to alleviate residents’ financial burden, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic a few years ago.

"Residents can take lemongrass, pandan and other herbs for free. We have set up a special fund for those who wish to make sincere donations.

"We also sell produce such as chilli, mushrooms, and ikan keli (catfish) up to 30 per cent cheaper than the market price to help the local community,” he said.

In the meantime, Halim said the club intended to apply for a grant from the total RM1 billion allocation provided by the government under the Madani Community Fund initiative, as announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim recently.

"If our application is approved, we plan to use the funds to upgrade garden infrastructure and develop our own bio-pesticide products using kaduk and serai wangi in collaboration with Universiti Putra Malaysia and the Selangor Agriculture Department,” he said.

Meanwhile, Agriculture and Food Securities Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Sabu, who visited the community garden on Monday, said he was impressed by the community’s various efforts in implementing sustainable farming practises.

"I hope this project can serve as an exemplary model for the nationwide implementation of the kebuniti (community gardens) initiative, not only for its role in reducing the cost of living but also for serving as a hub for agrotourism and agricultural education that will greatly benefit the community,” he said. - BERNAMA