Students of SM All Saints picking up the vegetables after the launching ceremony yesterday.
KOTA KINABALU: Despite its sandy surroundings, Sekolah Menengah All Saints took the risk pursuing its plan to develop a sustainable farming programme.
Of course, initially, it was not a bed of roses, but through hardwork and determination, they succeeded and became the first school to adopt such a programme in the state.
“Sustainable farming is a technique that would be able to improve production periodically. It also conserves land ecosystem where its natural habitats such as insects and worms would play its role to fertilise the soil,” said Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun in his speech read by the ministry’s permanent secretary, Datuk Michael Emban.
And in realising the importance of cleaner food, air and environment, Wong Foo, a Physics teacher with the school, has also set up a horticulture club, which among others aims at promoting sustainable farming.
He mooted the idea of changing the school landscape into a ‘gardenscape’ concept early April last year, and began gathering several pioneer members to assist him.
They started small by planting vegetables using a small piece of land of land behind the school without using pesticides or any kind of chemical fertilisers.
He admitted that it was hard at first due to limited resources and manpower, but after a few months, their hardwork paid off when the first few patches of vegetables grew magnificently.
“It was then that I decided to expand this initiative by starting a club (unofficially) in January this year,” Wong said.
Since then, over 40 students from form four and five science classes, worked closely to plant more vegetables in the school compound, with an accumulated plantation area reaching about half an acre now.
The school project had had attracted the Sabah Environmental Protection Association (SEPA) and the Environment Action Commission’s (EAC) attention, and they began helping the club members and school in their sustainable farming programmes.
Its club president, Ricky Wong, attributed the success of the sustainable farming to the support from students and teachers, adding: “We started with the preparatory stage, then maintaining the vegetables so they would grow well for harvesting, and lastly to be sold among school teachers and parents.”
He said the teachers have also shown support by advising them on how to go about the project, as well as buying the vegetables when they are ready for harvest.
“The fertilisers were self-made using carbon, rice bran, chicken dung and molasses. The process to make these fertilisers take about two weeks, whereas vegetables which are planted on rotation basis takes about one to three months to grow, depending on the type of vegetables,” he said.
As for the types of vegetables planted, he said they include spinach, Chinese cabbage or ‘bak choi’, yam, bittergourd and baby Kailan.
In addition, they also plant flowers around the vegetables so that insects and other pests would nibble on the flowers instead of the vegetables to keep them fresh and edible.
Emban, during the press conference, disclosed that the efforts carried out by SM All Saints should be emulated by other schools, adding the ministry, through EAC, and with the collaboration from the Education Department are willing to assist those who are interested to start up their own sustainable farming programme.
The school’s principal, Tiong Ai Ping, said the programme is a breakthrough for them and she hopes it would be continued for the good of the next generations.