Malaysia: Urban market gardeners put backyards to good use
Miri is a Malaysian city on the northwest coast of the island of Borneo.
By Chang Yi
Borneo Post
September 13, 2020
Excerpt:
Any town or city would need food supplies, especially of fresh food and vegetables. These stocks usually come from market gardeners, to borrow a western term.
With the influx of workers to the oil field, transport sector, and other businesses, Miri started to expand. Soon, Krokop, a budding urban enclave became a supplier of vegetables and live animals such as chickens, ducks, and pigs.
Foragers and hunters brought jungle produce to the town in the early days, but in the intervening period, Miri witnessed the gradual beginning and development of an urban market garden.
Liu (name has been changed) learned from her mother that as early as the 1930s, women in Krokop were the main producers of vegetables.
They also reared chickens, ducks, and pigs.
The houses were far apart and all had their own food supplies. Many started to send their surplus to the market.
“That was our food supply chain in the early days when I settled in Krokop,” she added.
Liu recalled during the Japanese Occupation, many Chinese moved to the rural areas, setting up home on the hills in Lopeng, Riam, and even Sibuti, and surviving by planting crops.
