KOTA BARU, July 24 — With the aim to encourage the public to plant their own vegetables, the Pangkalan Chepa Area Farmers Organisation (PPK) has been showcasing their salad farms in a vertical hydroponic tower using PVC pipes during the three-day Kelantan Keluarga Malaysia Aspirations (AKM) Tour programme here.

Pengkalan Chepa PPK general manager Zainihisham Idris said the tower farms, which were set on display at the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industries (Mafi) booth at the Sultan Muhammad IV Stadium had indeed become one of the crowd pullers, with some visitors showing interests to buy the complete hydroponic set to have their own tower farm at home.

“During the Kelantan edition of AKM Tour, 13 sets of the tower farms using PVC pipes were booked so far. Many other visitors had also shown interest, but were invited to come to our office to learn more about the hydroponic farming sets before making their reservations,” he told Bernama met at the stadium here today.

He said the tower farms did not use any soil as it only requires the sponges and is suitable for the cultivation of leafy vegetables and herbs, such as salad, mustard green, spring onion and parsley.

A total of 160 sets of the tower farms had been sold so far since they embarked on the project in 2020, he said, adding that the price starts at RM350 depending on the size required by the customer.

Meanwhile, the Mafi booth also captured the attention of visitors with the replica of Japanese mustard cultivation using the tabletop fertigation technique by Repek Telong PPK.

“This tabletop fertigation cultivation technique is very suitable for those who have limited land area. In fact, the cultivation technique using processed coconut coir is also suitable for the people of Kelantan because the state has many coconut trees,” Repek Telong PPK general manager Zuraidi Ramli said.

Zuraidi also expressed hope that through programmes like the AKM Tour, the PPK would be able to showcase more simple and safe vegetable cultivation methods to encourage the public to plant their own vegetables at home. — Bernama