LUMUT, Sept 20 — Orang Asli youth Imran Azman @ Len has big dreams.

Instead of wasting his time doing nothing in the interiors of the Orang Asli village at RPS Bainun in Temenggor, the 18-year-old decided to learn how to farm organically.

"I want to help my family be more economically independent,” he told Malay Mail when met at the farm of social entrepreneur Chris Thong at Kampung Gunung Tunggal here.

According to Thong, apart from Imran, there are three other Orang Asli farmers from the same village working on his 1.2 hectare farm as part of their training.

How it all started

Thong first went to Kampung Sungai Tebang in RPS Bainun, a 45-minute boat ride from the Temenggor jetty, in 2017 with members of the Wesley Methodist Church Sitiawan.

"We went there to give them daily necessities.”

Realising that this is not a long-term solution, Thong, who had been farming for more than a decade, decided to teach the community how to farm in 2021 and empower them in the process.

For his pilot project, he started with one family where he gave them 30 chicks to raise. Why chicks?

According to Thong, chicks grow the fastest and before you know it the Orang Asli family has a product to sell.

"It instils confidence in them,” he said.

Today, there are at least 12 families in the village participating in the project that has since expanded to farming.

Among the organic vegetables grown by them are long beans, corn, eggplants, pumpkin, rosselle, ladies fingers and also guava.

"At least 40 per cent of the profit goes back to the farmers,” said Thong.

Like Imran, Mustani Badel wanted to learn a skill that can ensure his future survival instead of just collecting produce from the jungle.

"By learning how to farm, I can tend to the land in my village and provide for my family,” the 19-year-old who hails from the same village as Imran said.

Mustani added he also learned the art of business from Thong, a skill that he did not pick up from his four previous jobs.

While the produce from Thong’s farm are harvested daily, the ones at RPS Bainun are harvested weekly; Thong would pick up the produce from the village every Wednesday.

Challenges faced

Apart from training and supporting the Orang Asli, one of the biggest challenges faced by Thong is the marketing of the products.

"People have the misconception that organic products are expensive when actually they are not. In fact our mission is to make organic products affordable,” he explained.

To market the products, Thong introduced the Imp 107 and Imp 57 programme which is a monthly subscription based purchase.

According to Thong, Imp 107 ensures subscribers one free range chicken, freshwater fish slices, organic vegetable and fruit juice while Imp 57 provides organic vegetables.

"Sometimes there are also quail eggs and wild honey.”

Thong said the subscriptions for Imp 107 and Imp 57 are RM107 and RM57 respectively, where RM100 and RM50 is the cost of the goods while RM7 is donation to support needy families and Orang Asli children’s education.

While the subscription is available for delivery to Sitiawan, Ipoh, Penang and Kuala Lumpur, Thong said the products are also available for purchase at two organic shops and two sundry shops in Sitiawan and Kampung Koh market and the organic shop at the Adventist Hospital, Penang.

For more information on Imp 107 and Imp 57, visit their Facebook page or email jwaorganik@gmail.com.

Thong can also be contacted at 016-5515944.