The Malaysian government is looking to nearly double its urban farming communities by 2020 in an effort to improve food security and ease living costs in the country
“Urban farming is a government initiative programme to ensure a complete food supply chain and beef up food security in the country,” Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek said after launching the "Program Sentuhan Kasih Tani-Pertanian Bandar 2.0."
The government is looking to create 20,000 urban farming communities by 2020, up from 11,000 communities to date.
“This can happen when the urban communities start to take advantage of small vacant spaces around their homes,” Ahmad Shabery said.
The minister said the initiative would help citizens through a steady supply of basic needs such as chillies, lemon and lemongrass among others.
Malaysia's agriculture has seen a decline in labour as the sector lost more jobs to manufacturing during the country's industrialisation.
The government has been implementing schemes to consolidate small land holdings and group farming schemes to improve self-sufficiency and labour productivity.
