Kids Go Green In An Organic Vegetable Gardening Course | Universiti Putra Malaysia
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Kids Go Green in an Organic Vegetable Gardening Course

By: Dr. Daljit Singh Karam

 

SERDANG – An organic vegetable gardening course organised by the Faculty of Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) was held for children aged five to twelve.

 

The Course Director for the 2017 Series, Dr. Daljit Singh Karam said he noticed positive responses from parents and guardians of the children about the importance of outdoor activities that promote awareness about the value of farming and agriculture.

“What makes us proud is that parents were also involved in the activities held in this organic farm. A programme like this exposes them to the real process of organic farming and the importance of consuming healthy food,” he said.

 

Organic Unit Advisor, Faculty of Agriculture, UPM, Datin Dr. Rosenani Abu Bakar said that the event, which was the third one conducted, aimed to nurture interest and instil awareness among children as young as five years old about farming, and producing healthy and good quality vegetables organically,  and at a small scale within the residential compound.

“Among the activities in the course are harvesting and handling vegetables as well as growing them on planting beds made of compost. Besides that, the newest activity includes planting vegetables in decorative pots that can be used as gifts”, she said.

The children organic gardening course was wrapped up with a colouring activity. The children used their imagination to draw a panoramic view of an organic farm, completed the drawing with collage and later shared it with the rest of the participants.

A father of one of the participants, Muhamad Shah Osmin, said he was interested to send his child for the course because he wanted his child to have the opportunity to learn about the techniques of planting and caring of vegetables specifically.

“I also had the opportunity to get to know UPM agriculture experts from the Faculty of Agriculture such as Dr. Mohd Firdaus, Dr. Juju, Dr. Noraini, Dr. Mashitah, Dr. Martini, Dr. Dzarifah and Dr. Sumaiyah,” he added.

Another father, Syed Abdul Bari Syed Othman from Penang, said he was excited to send his children to take part in the programme.

“I started my journey as early as 3 a.m. from Penang, just to make sure my children will get to participate in the organic gardening programme because only limited places were available”, he said.

 

The Organic Unit, Faculty of Agriculture UPM was established in 2013 by Datin Dr. Rosenani Abu Bakar and Dr. Siti Hajar Ahmad. Not only organic gardening is free from chemical fertilizers and pesticides, its whole formulation and maintenance should follow MyOrganic standardization issued by the Department of Agriculture. -UPM

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Date of Input: 06/12/2017 | Updated: 06/12/2017 | hairul_nizam

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