Page 9 - Berita-Sunway-Issue73

Features

Horticulture

at Home Age of

Sunway XFarms offers three easy entry the Farmer
points to help you get aboard this
edible gardening crusade. Disinterested youth have placed the farming
1 3 industry under threat and it takes a village to

return the industry to its former strength.
Growner Virtual
Subscription 2 Workshops
Model Eco-Friendly If you find yourself with more
With our one-of-a-kind Growner Farm Kit time on your hands, join our
Model, even hopeless gardeners can e minimal, failproof setup of innovative virtual workshops that
now conceptually own a thriving this hydroponic kit would work will lay the essential groundwork
farm plot. Pick a subscription in the hands of any budding for understanding and pique new
plan that works best for you and let botanist. Not much time is curiosity about urban farming. wave of unrest is Bucking the Stigma Teach to Inspire
sweeping across the
our trained agronomists do the needed to invest in this new hobby Learn how to grow your own food A e reasons for this are as myriad as they are consequential, affecting And one of the best ways to make youth enjoy
heavy lifting of nurturing your either – hydroponic gardens are using hydroponic method or get to farming society. For everything from regional economic competitiveness to magnifying food farming is to teach them to do a good job at
crops from seed, harvesting them relatively low maintenance – grips with the concept of food decades, industrialisation has left insecurity. Some are cultural, too. It is true that for many, the rhythm of it, which is what Sunway iLabs is striving to
by hand and delivering them to though patience is still required as security and zero waste through the many of its members grappling farm life recalls sheer drudgery and a payoff that can be thin at best. Rural achieve through its Sunway XFarms. Other
your family table. In addition to a the specimens take up to 50 days to different modules on our roster. with tanking commodity prices development discourse is often filled with anecdotes of parents working than to nourish, empower, and innovate, the
bounty of fresh produce, you get grow. Every kit contains a seed and environmental degradation. hard to get their children off the land, sending them to universities in the skill-building hub is built to educate. e
the peace of mind from knowing packet, nutrients, and essential But even more troubling is adjacent urban cities so they can attain “a better life”. Conditioned by public can find a variety of courses made
that they are all pesticide-free. growing medium to help you its rapidly aging population. this school of thought, picking up the pitchfork at a farm can feel like a available to them: introductory lessons to urban
unlock the agricultural potentials Since World War II, countries step backwards for many young people. Capitalist tinkering has hurt the farming, grow-your-own-food workshops, and
worldwide have recorded a
of your own backyard – or any part drastic decline in people working demographic as well. e information industries and their enormous even hands-on experience in running a smart
of your home. appetite for highly skilled workers, in particular, have popularised a large farm. By encouraging young people to dig into
in agricultural areas. Currently,
the average age of farmers in the share of this economic shift. the dirt – in this case, hydroponic solution –
United States, Japan and the these classes seek to nurture
European Union is 60 with less While a growing pool of an inherent respect for
than five percent under the millennials are now trying to nature. Because if we do
age of 35. Closer to home, the overturn the stigma – in the face of not take care of our land,
trend is equally pronounced: economic and cultural deterrents, it cannot take care of us.
Data from the Department they are applying scientific
of Statistics Malaysia reveals approaches and data-crunching Many agencies in the
a shrinking proportion of the apps not just to increase yields, but country encourage similar
agricultural workforce, which to show that agriculture can be activities: city gardening,
made up only 15% of the total cool too – their numbers are still healthy eating, entrepre-
local employment in 2018 – miniscule at large. Sunway Group neurship. But few have
down by a total of 11% from chief innovation officer and Sunway integrated themselves with
1990. If we are not careful, iLabs director, Matthijs Van equal reach and result as
farmers will soon become a Leeuwen believes it takes a village. FutureX Farm. Its holistic
dying breed. ecosystem that gathers a
“Other stakeholders also play a critical role. We need the authorities, for diverse set of agricultural-related vocations has
example, to frame more progressive farming policies; the investors and shed light on many successful real-life examples
banks to provide capital to entrepreneurs; and educators to build a more within the farming community that youth can
robust agri-talent pool,” he said. “At the moment, most funding for look at and aspire to be like. It is all part of
agri-preneurs in Malaysia is still coming from bank loans. e creating a tenuous link between veteran farmers
government should consider setting up a venture capital fund and give and, hopefully, a new wave of agrarians,
incentives to corporates and existing fund managers who invest in through which we may finally be able to
early-stage companies. It is not just technology that drives the agenda. To jump-start a more inclusive food movement
avoid over-reliance on foreign labour, we must work together to entice and see the next generation reclaim the farming
the youth to consider farming as a profession.” tradition once again.
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