We’ve had the opportunity to be featured in the 73rd issue of Berita Sunway! Our CEO, Matt van Leeuwen briefly goes through an introduction of our operations here at Sunway XFarms. Here is a page, followed by some of our highlights!
“Over the last decade alone, our national food bill has increased to about RM60 billion, with 55% of our vegetables needs imported.”
Here at XFarms, our main goal has always been for people to achieve food security. Of course, it is easier said than done, and there are many different farm challenges that have to be prevented to allow people to safely bring home and enjoy their food. To that end, we use smart farms to address common farm challenges such as pests, inconsistent weather & insufficient sunlight during the rainy season. As we only just turned 1 year old recently, there is still a lot more research & development to be done, and you can bet we’ll keep working to improve the conditions of our produce & energy usage of our smart farms.
“The goal is to have every urbanite living within 5km of access to fresh, healthy, and delicious produce.”
Even now as we are in the process of building new farms, we are actively making preparations to expand across the states. As food security remains our top priority, rather than competitive rivalry, we look to work with already existing farms and combine each other’s strengths to provide better to both the people and the planet.
“[Sunway XFarms] will complement existing agricultural practices in addressing [food security].”
The issue also covers the stigma that “working in agriculture can feel like a step backward for many young people”, created by decades-old inequality and further compounded by capitalism.
Did you know that in 2018, the agricultural workforce makes up only 15% of Malaysia’s employment? It’s not something with a lot of public awareness, but when farmers become a dying breed, who will be the one to bring the food to the table? How such an essential and labour-intensive service isn’t sufficiently compensated is certainly much food for thought.
We are constantly pushing for better working conditions, as well as educating youth on how to pick up, learn and enjoy urban farming. Those youth in question would be our Agrifood Apprentices, who spend 3-6 months helping us out with farm operations. Speaking of which, our 4th intake of the apprenticeship programme is currently open for registration! Learn more about it here.
