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DEAF AND BLIND COMMUNITY PRODUCES PLANTING MEDIA FOR IMPROVED SUBSISTENCE AND FOOD ASSURANCE

DEAF AND BLIND COMMUNITY PRODUCES PLANTING MEDIA FOR IMPROVED SUBSISTENCE AND FOOD ASSURANCE

Monday, 16/1/2023

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People’s interest in urban farming is on the rise because of the high prices of leafy and fruity vegetables in the market. The steep prices are due to the increase in the prices of agricultural inputs, such as fertilizers. The price hike of vegetables affects the low-income group. As part of the effort to help the people in this group, especially those in the B40 as well as the deaf and blind communities, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu lecturer Dr. Wan Zaliha Wan Sembok from the Faculty of Fisheries and Food Science has taken the initiative to impart the knowledge of producing fertilizers and planting media to some of the members around Kuala Terengganu and Kuala Nerus.

Various planting media are available in the market and can be obtained at different prices. The media in the market are mostly imported from other countries. Reducing dependency on imported agricultural materials or inputs is a proactive effort. Through the RM8000.00 fund obtained from the Knowledge Transfer Assimilation Grant Scheme (KTAGs) offered by the Centre for Knowledge Transfer and Industrial Networking, UMT, she has helped four communities in Kuala Terengganu and Kuala Nerus to improve their subsistence by allocating the fund among them. Her knowledge transfer project titled Mikopreneur: towards food supply assurance and community’s subsistence improvement has helped the deaf and blind community and the communities from Sultan Mansor Secondary School and Bukit Tunggal Primary School through the sale of the supplied grey oyster mushrooms. Each community was given 600 mushroom substrates for two rounds of growing.

The first round of growing (300 substrates) provided the community with an income of RM500-700. Once the mushrooms were harvested, the substrates were not able to produce them anymore, but the UMT researcher managed to turn the substrates into another source of income. The used substrates were converted into planting media by adding soil enhancer, Mikoriza, which she has studied. The soil enhancer can increase crop yields and the quality of fruits and vegetables through its various functions. Besides serving as a planting medium, the mikoriza-enhanced mushroom substrates also acts as a bio-fertilizer. The used substrates are also made to become a soil enhancer known as biochar or bio charcoal. To convert the substrates into biochar, they must undergo a pyrolysis burning process at a temperature of 400-500 degree. The resulting planting medium called MushPro is used by the deaf and blind community for their own fertigation and also sold at a reasonable price to help the B40 group who are interested. They plant leafy and fruity vegetables, including Pak Choy, okras, chilies, and eggplants.

Terengganu is home to 20,467 disabled people from various categories including deaf and blind. It is the responsibility of the normal society to help these people live an equal life by providing them with knowledge in various fields especially agriculture, which can help them earn a side income.

It should be noted that the world’s population in 2050 is estimated to be 9.5 billion people. The population in Malaysia will also increase. To ensure sufficient food supply in the future, it is the responsibility of today’s generation to make food production sustainable. This is where the transfer of knowledge gained from research at universities to the society becomes important.