Kundasang; more than just cabbages

Azridin Sulimat

KUNDASANG: This highland district is well known for its highland vegetable production and is synonymous with cabbages and the Cabbage Festival.

The recent festival is a gathering of farmers to showcase their produce and compete in product contest, a traditional meeting to promote rapport and friendship among revellers as well as promoting tourism in that area.

Event Organisor Secretary Azridin Sulimat said there is more to the Cabbage Festival than meet the eye.

“There are many facets of the festival that are useful to the community as a whole such as attracting visitors to the area, ensuring that a positive image is projected through cultural and sporting activities as well as long term promotion for Kundasang.”

He said Mount Kinabalu is a definite plus for tourism in that area being one of the most well known tourism attraction in Malaysia, and coupled with Kundasang's identity as a balmy mountain township with scenic villages, that area is a tourist haven.

“The other identity of Kundasang is of course as the main producer of highland vegetables, cabbage being one of the more famous produce,” he stressed.

It is however not going to merely stand and bank on its vegetables, the community there is looking forward to self-sustaining production with better ways to produce nutritious, chemical free vegetables.

Young innovators are now in the process of thinking out of the box and this area may soon be known for something more interesting as well as advantageous.

One of the innovation is composting of vegetable discards and waste, by Mohd Al Hafiz Sovestor , 21.

Mohd Al Hafiz

“My innovation concerns the vegetables discards and waste in Kundasang. There are a lot of such wastage and I have came up with the idea to make compost with it. My idea is to collect them all which in the long run will ensure waste management,” he shared.

“Besides managing the waste in this area, composting will lessen our dependence on chemical based fertilisers. We will not only have good fresh healthy vegetables but also a cleaner environment.”

According to him, he had already started his composting project and used his fertiliser on his vegetable patch in Kg Kauluan Ranau. The result is very satisfactory he said adding that he is confident the fertiliser will catch on in future.

“In future, consumers will no longer be skeptical about the nutritious value of Kundasang Highland vegetables, as we will use organic fertilisers,” he said.

He hoped to collect wastes in and around Kundasang and process them into fertilisers with the objective of supplying all farmers in there with good organic fertiliser.

Another innovation is by Leef Anwar Malandi also from Kg Kauluan. He is planting Yacon, which areactually tubers that look like fat squat tapioca. They are eaten raw like chestnuts, but have a slightly unpleasant after taste. But these are not what they are for, they are actually made into juice.

Leef Anwar Malandi

Leef said he got the technology during a sojourn in Cameron Highlands. He brought the Yacon to Kundasang and planted them in two acres of land. He began to experiment with the tuber, squeezing the juice out of it.

The result is a very sweet syrup which can be used as sweetener to hot drinks or even spread on bread.

The best part of this Yacon syrup is its health benefit, shared Leef, Yacon can regulate blood sugar levels, lower “bad” cholesterol, help with weight loss and lower blood pressure.

“I plan to plant more of this plants and produce Yacon syrup. This way we can diversify the products of Kundasang,” he said, adding that he will look into packaging and marketing the product soon.

Azridin said there are five innovations that have been shortlisted for the final contest in West Malaysia. He expressed his hopes that Kundasang's innovators will go through with flying colours.-AG