CETDEM Organic Farming Project – Selected Articles
Interview with KGG Member Mr. Kenny Ng Khian Ee of Bukit Mertajam
Appeared in Green Nest Issue No. 21, published by CETDEM
Kenny joined as a KGG member in early 2005. He is married with 2 daughters and is doing business in the electronics industry. We were curious to know why he joined CETDEM and has strong interest in organic. Thus we conducted an interview with him while we were in Cameron Highland on 8-9 October 2005.
C: CETDEM
K:Kenny Ng Khian Ee
C: What is your interest?
K: I have wanted to live an organic lifestyle. I wish to volunteer in an organic farm for 3 months and learn about organic farming and go into farming one day. I have been looking for land but without success so far.
C: How and why did you join CETDEM?
K: Last year I realized that I wanted to change my lifestyle to a much simpler one after living a ten-year lifestyle with lots of entertainment. My wife has been consuming organic food for the past 3 years and we thought that it would be good to live an organic life. This led me to search the Internet and found out about CETDEM. I became a volunteer in CETDEM Organic Watch ’05 Exhibition on Organic & Natural Products and got to know Ms. Tan. I am inspired by Ms. Tan’s simple lifestyle and her work that contributes a lot to society.
C: Why do you want to go into organic?
K: Though I know that the organic business cannot help me to earn a lot of money, but I like the simple lifestyle and living close to nature. A life should be in loving, kindness, caring for all living beings in the world. But my life has been self-centered, pursuing money and material wealth. I am still a selfish person though.
C: How organic are you?
K: I have been eating organic vegetables and products seriously for the past 1 year. The main understanding of eating organic food is safety and health reasons, but I have started to be more aware of environmental issues and our lifestyle needs to be “organic” as well. I am trying to carry baskets when buying things to minimise usage of plastic bags. Our toiletries have changed to non-chemical as well.
C: Would you encourage more people to go into organic? If yes, how?
K: Yes. Our Rukun Tetangga (RT) has organized solid and organic recycling programmes. I find that email is a good tool to spread the organic message. I have been emailing organic activities to my friends and business associates and they seem to respond to it, but surprisingly some of them have not even heard the word organic. In my opinion, a lot of people relate organic to health and the consumers mostly are the cancer patients. I find that the awareness on organic lifestyle is not there yet, and I hope there will be a booklet to educate people on what organic
lifestyle is.
C: Do you have your own garden and make compost?
K: Yes, I am still learning on how to grow vegetables. I grow mostly herbs. I did make compost from kitchen waste but was not very successful. I did not do it properly and did not stir it. It has maggots but no smell.
C: Are there any organic issues that you strongly want to address?
K: I find public awareness is not there yet. Most people know the harmfulness of chemical agricultural products but do not care. They still happily consume those chemical vegetables and fruits. We need to find out the root cause of the ‘apathy attitude’ and then organise education programmes for them. We need more organic farmers and organic consumers. We need to have more affordable organic products. I often use the word ‘cheaper’ but Ms Tan always corrected me by using the word ‘affordable’. We need well versed organic retailers. We need more people like Ms Tan and Mr Gurmit to champion these issues.
C: What do you think of the organic future?
K: In my opinion, an organic farmer cannot get rich unless he does it on a large scale. I don’t think if I were to start a small organic farm it will face a threat from large exporters like China, Thailand or India, because if we were to really practice the organic way, I believe we will gain trust from the consumers. I hope more people will consume our own local vegetables and care for our environment.
C: What makes you happy?
K: I find money cannot make me happy. I hope I can contribute more to society and wish I would be able to do it one day. That will make me happy. ?
Copyright. All Rights Reserved. CETDEM
My experience at Kinou Shu Jyuku, Japan, on 15th – 21st Aug 2006
By: Kenny Ng Khian Ee
Appeared in Green Nest Issue No. 23, published by CETDEM
Kinou Shi Jyuku, is the name of the farm. Kinou Shi literally means return to agriculture with ambitious and Jyuku means institute. The owner is Mr. Tadashi Tomatsu. He started the organic farm in 1976, after he came back from Vietnam because of civil war erupted there. He did not have his own land nor own house at that time. He believed that doing agriculture was a way to live without adversely affecting other people and other creatures, and to find something worthy other than material satisfaction. There already existed many problems in Japanese agriculture more than twenty years ago, when he started agriculture such as a lack of young people who chose agriculture as their career, soil fatigue caused by agricultural chemicals and fertilizers and decrease of food that was completely safe for our health. Hoping to solve these problems, not only involved himself in agriculture, he also established the “Kinoushijyuku”, the training centre for new farmers for alternative living which consists of people who have grown up in cities and are interested in agriculture. In Kinoushijyuku, all the members live and work together to practice making agriculture products and selling them. 30 years have passed since he established the training center, and 100 people have graduated as new farmers. Most of them are now practicing organic farming in Japan and others are teaching agriculture in other Asian countries. 5 years ago, he extended the Kinoushijyuku to Sumatra Indonesia.
Kenny with Reina (host) and her customer
Mr. Tomatsu owns 7 ha of land. The crops are seasonal vegetables, fruits (blue berry and grapes) and paddy (for self sufficient). He raises 800 chickens for eggs and two pigs. He also processes tomato sauce, noodle and mayonnaise. He, his wife and a daughter work together with ten trainees everyday. The daughter (Reina) who works like a trainee, sometimes eat meals with the trainees also. She does not behave like a boss’s daughter. She is a hard-working and cheerful lady.
It was really tough for me working in this farm because I am not physically fit after spending many years of doing office and sales work in my early career. The day began at 4:30 am, later break for half an hour breakfast and 2 hour lunch break. The work lasted until sunset which was about 6:30pm. It is about 12 hours of field work. After dinner, the trainees and Reina were still working on the paper work while I went to bed. The training was very good for me, physically and mentally, to be prepared to become a farmer. I have the first-hand experience working with those young inspired future farmers. All of them have the ‘dream’ and the Japanese ‘Genki’ (spirit).
Jason Ho and I were assigned with different works at different crops everyday so that we could gain many learning experiences with them. They were very thoughtful indeed. The work included weeding, pruning, harvesting, sorting, packing, putting bokashi, preparing bokashi and getting chicken manure out from chicken house. However, one of the great experiences for me was the day delivery to their direct customers, called Teikei system. We went out at 8am and returned at 8:30 pm, all the way to the next prefecture which is a 3 hour drive. I did not expect it to be a one day affair, thinking of only half a day. That day, we delivered to one supermarket and 11 groups of customers (total number of customers is 70). They took time to talk to customers and the customers gave us drinks, cakes and even bonsai plants, coffee powder and used shirts. They introduced me to them and some of them started asking me questions regarding Malaysia and myself. They were so friendly. I really did not expect this kind of close relationship between farmer and his customers. Can we do the same in Malaysia?
Mr. Tomatsu sells two thirds to three quarters of his produce directly to customers which are around 150 of them. The balance to retailers and supermarkets. He prefers to maintain the close relationship with his direct customers. He educates his customers to eat only season vegetables and not the imported ones. He publishes monthly farm news which is written by the trainees so that his customers understand the farm activities which includes the difficulties if any. He said the organic certification is not important to him although his farm has been certified. He said the important thing is gaining the trust from the customers.
Vegetables ready for pickup by customers
Although I was only at the Jyuku for a week, I have gained experiences that are beneficial to me beyond measure. It has inspired me greatly.
P/S: The Japan study tour, on 22nd July – 22nd Aug 2006 was made possible by a UNESCO Grant through the efforts of ARI and CETDEM.
