USJ14 initiative plans to be one-stop centre for agro-tourism, education, CSR
A community garden in Subang Jaya, Selangor, has quietly bloomed over the past few years into a space where senior citizens swap gardening tips and children learn how plants are grown.
Building on this growth, USJ14 Community Garden (KKUSJ14) Association in Jalan Mulia is now seeking to formally structure its initiatives.
They plan to promote the garden as a one-stop centre offering agro-education, agro-tourism and corporate social responsibility (CSR) partnership programmes.
Association secretary Muhammad Adam Abdullah said the 0.1ha garden was initially sustained through the sale of organic produce and compost, with support from Subang Jaya City Council (MBSJ), Zone 3 Residents’ Representative Council (MPP) and elected representatives.
“We then expanded to offering education programmes for schools and groups interested in hands-on learning in a garden setting.
“KKUSJ14 was recognised as an education hub by MBSJ, and had its first CSR project with a global container shipping company, in 2023,” he said, adding that agro-tourism was a concept more recently introduced.
Muhammad Adam said the introduction of the three programmes offered more ways for the association to generate funds and to sustain the garden on a longer term.
KKUSJ14’s one-stop centre idea will be included as part of Zone 3 MPP’s submission for MBSJ MPP Awards 2025, which includes categories for green neighbourhood and community programmes.
As an agro-education hub, the garden provides an open learning platform for students, teachers and communities to learn about sustainable agriculture, food security, agricultural innovation as well as current issues such as climate change and sustainable practices.
“We tailor classes based on the participants’ age group, including basic planting, making soil mix or organic fertiliser as well as demonstrations on organic, hydroponic or fertigation planting methods,” said Muhammad Adam.
“We offer several options for CSR projects, such as carrying out general maintenance and beautification work, tree planting and sponsorship as well as plot adoption, where a corporation adopts a plot for a certain duration and donates the produce to a charity of their choice.
“As for agro-tourism, we hope to turn KKUSJ14 into an attractive destination by introducing hands-on activities and sale of seasonal harvest, with visitors having the chance to pick their own produce.”
The association also hopes MBSJ, which is promoting tourism through its “Helo Subang Jaya” platform, will bring corporate visitors to the garden for a visit.
Muhammad Adam said KKUSJ14 could also host events and there were plans to connect with tourism agencies in Subang for agro-tourism activities.
The community garden even hosted a Malay wedding with 300 guests in January this year.
KKUSJ14 was started by a group of strata dwellers and gardening enthusiasts in August 2018 on open space next to the USJ14 park, with permission from MBSJ.
The group mooted the idea because they lived in the various Goodyear Court apartments surrounding the park and had limited access to open space for gardening.
The community garden now operates on the same site but boasts facilities like a greenhouse, rainwater harvesting system and composting corner.
It received a Malaysia Good Agricultural Practices (MyGap) certification from the Agriculture Department, which recognises that it has good agricultural practices and grows safe, quality produce.
The association also received a Sejati Madani grant of RM60,000 from Implementation Coordination Unit, Prime Minister’s Department (ICU JPM) to kickstart chilli fertigation this year alongside some other produce.
Started in July, the project saw its first harvest in mid-November, consisting of 350 bags of chillies and 50 bags of vegetables such as lettuce, kangkung, sawi and okra.
Muhammad Adam believes KKUSJ14’s fertigation project is the first in Malaysia to be run by an all-female team, who are also housewives.
“We sought advice from Capt Aswardy Moktar, a retired pilot who had experience with fertigation systems, to help set up the project,” he said, adding that the grant went on equipment, maintenance and utility bills.
“Chillies are sensitive plants to grow, but they produce good yields.
“We are planning to sell our harvest to sundry shops, restaurants, local residents and park visitors.”
For details or to contact KKUSJ14, visit https://tinyurl.com/t4hymdrx
