So, I encourage myself to practice urban farming

Currently, Abdul Rahman (61) enjoys his new activity to implement urban farming method after being retired from Cilandak Barat Urban Village's Environment Section Head position since 2018. He optimizes space on the third floor of his house on Jalan Saraswati, RT 02/11, Cipete Utara, Kebayoran Baru, to be his garden.

"Before retiring in 2018, I tried to find ideas to fill my retirement days thus I would not get bored at home. So, I encourage myself to practice urban farming," he said, Tuesday (2/13).

Actually, he has some knowledge about cultivation using hydroponic system when he worked at South Jakarta Maritime Agriculture and Food Security (KPKP) Sub-department. At that time, he failed to harvest several times, so he tried to share and discuss with his friends.

"Of course I can't do it well at first. I learn from KPKP Sub-department's coaching and try it at home. Sometime, my plant becomes dry, attacked by pests, crop failure. There are many obstacles in my first planting," he explained. 

But now, he has many vegetables, fruits, and medicinal plants in his garden. Such as green grapes, butternut squash, lemongrass, chili pepper, mustard greens, chives, and jumbo lime.

"I also use pot as planting medium. We have mini longan and starfruit plants," he mentioned while showing his fruiting plants.

His hard work is paid off. Now, cultivating crops not only done to fill his days off, but also to make money.

"Economically it helps us because we don't need to buy vegetables or fruit since we can use some of the yields for our own consumption. While we can sell the rest to the others. Such as by selling mustard green which is harvested twice a month to food vendors," he expressed.

He also welcomes anyone who is interested to learn about urban farming from him.

"I am not an expert, but I can share my experiences. So let us learn together about urban farming," he said.