Edible Gardening As A Sustainability Initiative: Evidence From Malaysia

Abstract

The concept of edible garden has always been associated with growing plants that can be eaten including herbs, vegetables and fruits. It is for this reason that this activity has the powerful to create a sustainable living environment; by establishing a healthy and sustainable food production system. A sustainable living environment is important in making sure that the conditions both man and nature live in a productive harmony conditions that permits the fulfilling of environment, social, economic and the many other needs of present and future generations. Edible gardening is on the rise in Malaysia. Awareness of the impact that the involvement in this activity brings about is much required for a sustainable living. This paper therefore, determines the impact of edible gardening on sustainability indicators, including social, economic and environmental benefits. Data was collected from 119 respondents throughout Malaysia via self-administered online questionnaire survey. The results indicated that participating in edible gardening has a great impact on environmental benefits, social benefits and economic benefits. Besides this, factors that hinder the individual from being involved in edible gardening, as well as steps to enhance this activity are also identified. This paper ends with solutions and recommendations such as the needs for more innovation and usage of technologies, so that the practise of edible gardening can be simplified and accepted by everyone in the whole Malaysia.

Keywords: Edible gardensustainable environmentsocialeconomicenvironment

Introduction

In this era of globalization, the notion of sustainability is very important to the welfare of both humans and the natural world, because it is through sustainability that the needs of present generations can be met without compromising the needs of the future generation ( Amiolemen, Ologeh, & Ogidan, 2012). In Malaysia, there are two phenomenon that hit Malaysian the most in the last few days and effect their conducive environments. Frequent hot-weather phenomena often create a sense of uneasiness in the city and by early 2019 the heat conditions had become more severe as the El-Nino phenomenon hit Malaysia. According to statistics from the Department of Meteorology, the hottest day in Malaysia was recorded in Chuping, in Perlis, that reached 40.1 in 1998 ( Zildawarni et al., 2018). In 2019, it was reported that temperature was getting higher and reached 37°C, for 3 consecutive days for Perlis and other places including Kubang Pasu, sik, Hulu Perak, Kinta, Maran, Kepong and Muar ( The Star Online, 2019). The world has witnessed a change in the world’s climate, causing a negative effect on the environment as well as human lives. The increasingly threatened environment, especially due to extensive tree felling, is often associated with this extreme heat. This is because the basic transpiration of the water to release water vapor through evaporation can reduce the temperature of the area. As such, any tree planting activity regardless of size and type can certainly contribute to the aspect of avoiding heat in this human environment. In addition, to the extreme heat phenomenon caused by climate change, Malaysians are also complicit in the 'food price hike' phenomenon which is strongly linked to the rise in oil prices and the implementation of the collection of goods and services tax (GST) by the Malaysian government since 2016. Whether at both the Malaysian and global levels, food price increases are often associated with low food supply, rising labor, fertilizer costs and high maintenance, food price speculation in the market, competition for biofuel materials and warming climate change global. Therefore, the issue of food prices and the issue of global warming has always been a hot topic of discussion as it effect the sustainable living environments.

According to Amiolemen et al. ( 2012), a few of the many ways that should be taken to help sustain the environment, protect biodiversity and the global climate is through the incorporation of plant species which use environmental resources efficiently for ecological stability. Thus, planting and gardening activities, especially around housing areas, is one of the more brilliant ideas to be considered in protecting biodiversity and the environmental climate for sustainable living. Thus, this idea should be known and realised by city dwellers for maintaining their sustainability.

One of the gardening concepts applied is edible gardening. Edible garden is a concept which was doable for plants production in a small scope in houses surrounding. Traditionally, the self-supporting agriculture-based practice is meant to fill in the needs for daily food supply from sources of plants which are planted or collected around the house or village. However, lately, this concept has been changed into a landscape or edible garden which combines the approach of decorating a garden with a combination of favourite edible garden and ornamental plants to make gardens become attractive and beautiful ( Zabedah, 2010).

Problem Statement

This paper is intended to discuss the role of the edible garden as a sustainability initiative. According to Jalil ( 2010), sustainability has three components which are social, economic and environment. Awareness of the impact that the involvement in this activity brings about is much required for a sustainable living. The contribution on the edible garden is often discussed through various scopes and perspectives, such as the inclusion of suitable types of plants ( Fatimah & Nurzaidah, 2016; Gaya Peneroka, 2010); as a source of income ( Haliza, 2018; Fatimah & Muhamad Shahizi, 2018) and also from economic aspects ( Haliza, 2018; Felda, 2010). However, the impact of these activities from sustainability perspective is under research. Very little focus is given towards their contributions from the hydrometeorology perspective. What is more important is that these plants have the potential to be made as a source that is more sustainable to bring down the cities temperature, henceforth sustains the cities environment. This paper therefore would like to determine the impact of edible gardening to the sustainability indicators, including social, economic and environmental benefits.

Research Questions

This study aims to examine the understanding of edible gardening activities through Malaysian citizen perception. The focus is on the impact of these activities on sustainability indicators benefits. The primary research question is “how do the edible gardeners’ perceived while involved in this sustainability-living environment

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this study is to determine the impact of edible gardening to the sustainability indicators, including social, economic and environmental benefits. The study seeks to identify the impact from the Malaysians’ perception on this issue.

Research Methods

Findings

Conclusion

Sustainability entails protection of the environment and natural resources, as well as to provide social and economic welfare to the present and to subsequent generations. However, modernization and urbanization has had a significant impact on the sustainability agenda. For instance, many big cities experience heat waves, meaning higher ambient temperatures. The high temperature in the city often causes an uncomfortable atmosphere for the residents. This article shows the contributions of the plants planted in the surrounding areas of a house for consumption purposes, also known as an edible garden, is relevant and can stabilise hot temperatures in an area by reducing greenhouse effects and global warming. It is because edible gardens allow the process of photosynthesis and transpiration to occur, that leads to lower urban temperatures ( Rindam & Hassan, 2012). Edible gardens also do not merely just contribute to the benefits of environmental sustainability, being involved in this activity will also help to sustain other components, such as economic and social wellbeing. Specifically, among the factors that make the edible garden well-liked are the increments of the fresh food price, and the freshness and the quality of the vegetables produced ( Puteh et al., 2005). This is consistent with the results of the study which found that edible gardening is able to producing fresh quality crops that are free from poisons and non-organic fertilizers. Ahmad and Khalil ( 2010) also stated that the edible garden can bring non-materialistic benefits such as being the repository of family closeness through the activity that is being carried out, increasing the spirit of neighbourliness with the sharing of the plant yields, and is a form of ‘horticulture therapy’ to improve health. The result of the study supported this argument by showing that edible gardens can strengthen family ties, build a sense of neighbourhood and give horticulture therapy to the growers.

In Malaysia, the Malaysian Agriculture Research And Development Institute (MARDI) is often exploring and triggering recent innovations and technologies such as the usage of the Greenkit, Fertikit, vertical site and various others initiatives ( Zabedah, Zainal, & Hamdan, 2010), so that this concept can be simplified and is accepted by everyone. Thus it is recommended that every house in Malaysia, especially in the city areas, act to involve itself in edible gardening to ensure the hot temperatures that are occurring can be reduced and at the same time, they can contribute to other components of sustainability (social and economic aspects). This is because the importance of plants in the edible garden activity and their contributions are becoming more relevant when the economy effects and the rising cost of goods are out of control. Meanwhile, the less tangible effects such as the family and neighbourhood camaraderie are also contributed to by the edible gardening activity. Therefore, these plants and edible gardening have additional benefits, because they really do have the potential to sustain not only city dweller’s economic conditions, but also the city surroundings.

However, any effort and planning has to bear the fact that there are certain barriers to this initiative’s implementation. As found in this study, the main barriers to edible gardening include having trouble with insects and diseases, growers always having to travel, low quality of soil, limited spaces for gardening and limited knowledge. To overcome these barriers as well as improving the edible gardening development and involvement, the responsible institutions such as the Malaysian Agriculture Research And Development Institute (MARDI), Federal Agricultural Marketing Authority (FAMA) and Department of Agriculture should come out with good initiatives including sponsoring high quality seeds and fertilizers, organizing workshops on edible gardening, organizing awareness campaigns on the benefits of edible gardening, building more informative websites and organizing high scale community edible gardening program.

Acknowledgments

The authors appreciate the contribution to the study, which was funded by the Ministry of Higher Education through the Experimental Research Grant Scheme (ERGS), reference code 203/PJJAUH/673003 and Universiti Sains Malaysia and School of Distance Education for managing the grant. Also for Department of Agriculture (Penang State) for accepting researcher during her sabbatical leave and for the late Associate Prof. Dr. Main Rindam whom has contributed much in this research, may this publication be his contribution in the hereafter.

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