Smallholder Farmer Program
Our "Grow Livelihoods" program has expanded to incorporate our Smallholder Farmer Program where we work with urban smallholder farmers by subsidizing a part of their cost, especially if they wish to take on riskier projects. Ashok was already a master in growing brinjals but he wanted to learn how to grow higher value crops, such as rock melons. From July to October 2022, 1500 rock melons were planted at Farm Abundant Ventures - Taman Maluri, Cheras together with the help of over 1000 volunteer hours. Through our BRING JOY Program, we sold sufficient rock melons, to cover costs, and donated rock melons (which would have landed in landfills as they were not perfect enough for the market) to those in need through our partnership with The Lost Food Project. Ashok gained valuable first-hand experience without the financial risk, had rock melons to sell to the market, and our partner The Lost Food Project received - 118 kilos of rock melons with a final total of 339 equivalent to over 1025 meals. Next we will be working with Syam at Farm Abundant Ventures - Pulau Meranti, Selangor.