Introduction of Built-In Stacked Bucket Composter to Support the Farming Practices in Community Garden of Kg Rinching Hulu (Selangor, Malaysia)

¹ Department of Agrotechnology, Faculty of Agriculture, Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta, Bantul 55183, Special Region of Yogyakarta, Indonesia
² Department of Agriculture Technology, Faculty of Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, 43400, Malaysia

^* Corresponding author: sitinur@umy.ac.id

Abstract

Malaysia uses the approach of community garden-based urban farming to build the community awareness about the importance of food resilience, including in Selangor Region. However, most of these community gardens were struggling with the low availability of organic fertilizer due to the low efficacy of organic waste composting. This issue also occurred in Kg Rinching Hulu Community Garden. Therefore, this program was aimed to supervise the local community in Kg Rinching Hulu in making and using the built-in stacked bucket composter for better composting efficacy. This community empowerment program involved 28 members of Kg Rinching Hulu Community Garden (aged ranging from 20- 70 years old) and carried out using the experiential learning method through participatory approach. It started with focus group discussion and followed by the practical supervision on the making of built-in stacked bucket composter. Subsequent supervision was focused on performing the composting of municipal waste using the stacked bucket composter. Overall, this program has successfully promoted better technical experience related to municipal waste composting using stacked bucket composter. The introduction of this composter concept was highly approved by the members based on their feedback on the level of technical difficulty.