Malaysia: Malls take to farming indoors

“By putting an urban farm in a mall, visitors get to try it out themselves. Ultimately, we want to inspire them. They can then bring this concept back to their community, ” he said.

By Jarod Lim -The Star
May 26, 2021

Excerpt:

Led by Sunway iLabs, Sunway FutureX serves as a skills building hub for urban farmers, technology companies, researchers as well as young talents to collaborate and create transformative solutions that focus on food and agriculture technology.

It currently features two aquaponic farms, an indoor vertical farm and an outdoor hydroponic farm.

Sunway iLabs director Matthijs van Leeuwen said FutureX Farm was equipped with technology such as the Internet of Things (IoT) to monitor the plants’ growth.

“The hydroponics method uses 90% less water and generates 30% to 40% higher yield per square feet.

“For the past seven months, we have grown and harvested 25,000 plants and fed 500 families, ” he said.

The pandemic also showed the lack of food security in the city and the need to bring food production closer to it.

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