KUALA PILAH: Upset at seeing a plot of land becoming a dumpsite for construction materials, retired civil servant Zakaria Othman from Taman Putra, near here, decided to take matters into his own hands.
He removed almost a tonne of rubbish from the site near his home and transformed it into a mini plantation. That was 10 years ago.
Now, his project has borne fruit. The 0.1ha plot is home to plants such as chilli, sunflower and banana.
Zakaria said his neighbours thought he was crazy when he first started.
“I love to plant vegetables but it was hard to find a nice area until I came across the plot. When people learnt of my plans, they said I was crazy as the area was filled with rubbish. They also said the land could be infertile. However, I pressed on.”
Zakaria said he began by planting a few chilli plants. When that worked, he grew other plants.
“Now, there are more than 10 types of plants in this mini plantation.
“I’ve planted banana, spinach, eggplant, papaya, ladies fingers, lemongrass, pandan, long beans, coconut and sunflowers.”
He said he planned to expand his green haven.
“The challenge is to remove stones from the site. I’ve used some of them as decoration.”
He also said he would share the harvest with his neighbours.