City Hall signs MoU to promote food production by local communities

KL mayor Nor Hisham (in red) with partnership members during the signing of the MoU.

KUALA Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the community garden project Local Agenda Kuala Lumpur (LA21KL) to promote more local food production by local communities.

Kuala Lumpur mayor Datuk Nor Hisham Ahmad Dahlan said the LA21KL programme involved three stakeholders, mainly local communities, the government and the private sector.

He said the aim was to bring about sustainable development and to promote cosy and harmonious environments.

Twelve partners were involved in the MoU signing, including universities, local welfare associations, residents associations, NGOs and also the Kuala Lumpur education department.

“The community garden project is an agricultural activity run by the local communities in their own neighbourhoods under the LA21KL approach.

“LA21 KL is one of the efforts made to encourage local food production which can attain freshness.

“It is also a way to promote more production of various types of greens while, at the same time, supporting local economic development and also community agricultural activities,” said Nor Hisham.

The mayor said he believed the LA21KL method could bring together the community, NGOs, the private sector and and the government in various other types of projects beneficial to the community.

The LA21KL Neighbourhood Garden Award that will held in February next year will see the participation of some new partners taking part.

“The appointed panel line-up for the award are experts in their own field,” he said. 

Community garden LA21KL chairman Mohd Rashdan Abd Rashid said the initiative helped the community, especially to younger generation, to understand the importance of food security.

“Currently, we are focusing on housing areas, and soon we will expand the initiative to school areas,” he added.