Published on: Friday, March 11, 2005

Kota Kinabalu: Want to know a basic way to indicate the difference between organic and conventionally grown vegetables?

“Slice the stems near the roots and press the fresh cuts on the tip of one’s lip.

The organic sample usually gives a pristine sweet taste, while the other sample probably generates a burning sensation, as if you are bitten by fire ants,” organic practitioner, Low Siew Wah, told some 40 participants of a two-day organic workshop in Bundu Tuhan on Feb. 19 and 20.

The workshop was organised by the Environmental Action Committee’s Resource Recovery Project, headed by Moktar Yassin, Director of the Science and Technology Unit, Chief Minister’s Department.

Other project partners included Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS), Kota Kinabalu City Hall, a small band of organic hobbyists and even Ford Malaysia.

But the small group travelled to as far as Sandakan, Keningau and Tambunan, went to schools, farmers, government staff and the public to spread the virtues of organic farming, according to an EAC press statement.

Low said organic farming in the true sense is “very concerned about taking care of the environment, its water, soil and protecting the ecosystems generally,” he said.

Citing a classic example how an intact ecosystem remains stable and functional in a crisis, he said the stream passing his EAC Show Farm continues to produce a very consistent and pristine flow of water despite a protracted drought over the last three months.

This is because he made sure nobody cut the riverine forest ecosystem and an original forest buffer was maintained at all times.

Low said he also highlighted the health benefits of organic vegetables, serving organic vegetables at dinner, taught the participants compost-making and how to plant to maximise survival rates.

Participants also cleared a new area left in fallow for 10 years, collected weeds to make composts, dug beds and learnt to “smoke” (not amounting to burning) the more decomposition-resistant vegetation.

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