Introducing good farming practices
TWENTY-FIVE Engineering FirstYear (EFY) students of Curtin University Malaysia (Curtin Malaysia) recently completed their community engagement project in Kampung Sungai Sebatu, an Iban longhouse community on the outskirts of Miri, Sarawak, as part of their “Engineering Foundations: Design and Processes INDE1001” unit.
The project, which was coordinated by a teaching team led by Curtin Malaysia’s Faculty of Engineering and Science, Department of Mechanical Engineering head Dr Sukanta Roy, was aligned to several learning objectives of the unit.
The project was carried out over two semesters and involved introducing good waste management and farming practices, and the benefits of composting food waste to produce cheap environmentfriendly organic fertilisers as most of the villagers are engaged in subsistence and small-scale farming.
The project was inspired by a talk on “Domestic Composts and Organic Fertilisers” by Miri city councillor and local expert on environmental preservation Mathew Benson Mounsey.
Core to the talk was the use of the 5R strategy towards waste management, which the students adopted for their project.
It was also based on preliminary studies and consultation with the villagers, in which a number of difficulties they faced were highlighted. In the process, the team also learned about the community’s long-term aspirations. Having assessed the situation, the students then worked on appropriate design solutions.
According to Dr Sukanta, the villagers plant vegetables in their backyards for daily consumption but do not practise systematic farming methods for more consistent and efficient output. Most still have to buy provisions from the market in Long Lama.
In addition, the villagers tend to simply bury or burn their food waste at their own designated landfill when they could compost them to make fertiliser instead of buying commercial fertiliser.
Besides highlighting the advantages of using organic fertilisers over chemical fertilisers and the different composting methods, the students also demonstrated making low-cost compost bins and bokashi compost accelerators and juice, which can help accelerate the composting process by up to 50%.
They also demonstrated better farming practices such as mixing a ratio of 70% soil and 30% organic fertilisers for initial seed planting, followed by re-planting 10-inch plants for better yields.
Joined by the villagers, they planted the seeds for different types of vegetables and donated necessary gardening tools to encourage the villagers to actively engage in these new practices.
Village headman Tuai Rumah Jemat thanked the Curtin students for their contribution to the development and welfare of the village community.
He expressed hope that further projects could be implemented, particularly in dealing with the lack of water sources – at present, the community relies on the adjacent river and rainwater for almost all its water needs.
Expressing his satisfaction with the success of the project, Dr Sukanta said the students honed important team-working, communication and problemsolving skills that will be critical in their subsequent years of studies, as well as in their future careers.
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