LETTER | The Orang Asli (OA) are some of the most impoverished communities living in Malaysia. Relying on ad-hoc work for income, many of them struggle to make ends meet during a movement control order. 

With little to no savings, many Orang Asli villagers have to depend heavily on food aid. This lack of adequate food not only results in hunger and food insecurity but also malnutrition, particularly in children.

Even though many Orang Asli families recognise the importance of food farming, very few are successful as many of them face daunting challenges that hinder them from farming successfully. A common issue is the dry and compacted soil that’s often exacerbated by long drought seasons in the area of Rompin and Pekan in Pahang.

 Rasa, a villager from Kg Bukit Biru says: “The soil here is very challenging. It gets worse when it doesn’t rain. Look over here, the soil is in clumps , it’s very hard and many of the plants don’t live. “

Rasa’s sentiment is commonly shared by other villagers, such as Setik, a mother of four children from Kg Cenodong who shows us the condition of the soil surrounding her home. 

Apart from this, many Orang Asli villagers also lack the capital to buy seedlings, tools and irrigation systems. Thus, many resort to planting drought-resistant crops such as cassava and sweet potatoes that do not provide enough nutrition for themselves and their family.

“We only plant what our ancestors used to plant such as sweet potatoes but we will just leave them to grow by themselves. We don’t know how to take care of them. “

Food security is crucial to building resilient OA communities; it not only provides them with adequate nutrition but also protects them from future shocks.

In August 2020, we began studying the challenges faced by the Orang Asli farmers. After working and learning with them on pilot farm plots, we officially kickstarted the Orang Asli-Eco Farm programme in six villages in November 2020. 

This programme provides hands-on training, subsidies such as tools and seedlings, as well as coaching to help them succeed in food farming.

As the training is carried out within the villages itself, we provided one-on-one coaching and guidance to address each villagers’ needs and challenges. From learning how to regenerate the soil by mulching to addressing pests, 38 farm plots were transformed from dry patches of bare soil to flourishing farms filled with vegetables and fruits.

As many as 38 families from six villages are now growing more than 10 varieties of vegetables and fruits. Many of them have already harvested their yield for consumption by their families.

By having a food farm with different types of vegetables and fruits, many Orang Asli villagers expressed happiness and relief as they no longer need to travel out of the villager to a store to buy vegetables. This alone allows them to save some of their income for the use of other essential expenses such as children’s school fees.

The crisis of Covid-19 has exposed many of the dire realities faced by the Orang Asli community, one of which is severe food insecurity. 

We hope our Orang Asli Eco-Farm programme will inspire more Orang Asli farmers to farm their own food to achieve self-sufficiency. This will allow them to develop greater resilience and protect themselves against future shocks like the Covid-19 pandemic for years to come.

The writer is communications officer with Global Peace Foundation Malaysia, a non-profit organisation working with the Orang Asli community.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.