Objective

• to improve livelihoods of smallholder farmers in rural communities through increased market and economic opportunities
• to achieve sustainable farming practices within the farming communities through adoption of chemical-free farming methods and use of appropriate technology and betterment of the environment

Challenge

Weedicides, molluscicides and Urea fertilizers are given out as subsidies under the National Agro-Food Policy (2011-2020). Without proper disbursement and community engagement, the subsistence farming communities of Long Semadoh Valley started using these chemical inputs without much comprehension. This resulted in the usage of agrochemical inputs without proper dosage nor protection.

The community have seen unexplained illnesses, deterioration of their land and the deaths of livestock like buffalos that mistook the fertilisers to be mineral salt. 

As a result, Langit aims to address the knowledge gap that exists among farmers and champion the adoption of regenerative agriculture methods that grow resilient and climate-smart rice crops. Additionally, it adds value to the income of farmers, allowing them to be good stewards of their land and the larger environment.

Social Enterprise

Langit’s products are sourced directly from indigenous farmers in East Malaysia and procured at a fair price, that is a minimum of 35% of the retail proceeds go directly to the farmers. Langit also commits 30% of its profit back into the communities via capacity building training. Moreover, Langit brings consumers to the villages to experience the local indigenous culture, understand and appreciate the artistry of heirloom rice planting and production.

Through the AirAsia Foundation grant, Langit will be able to:

• Conduct a series of community consultations for data collection on current farming practices as baseline data, workshop feedback and post-workshop implementations
• Create a best practices visual guideline for farmers reference
• Pilot community workshop series on topics related to making natural soil enhancer, improved farming techniques, paddy field layout and the making of natural pesticides
• Provide starter kit containing relevant tools to model farmers who are interested to implement the solutions they learned
• Produce a complete impact report from the project as knowledge sharing on Langit’s digital medium and to be shared with stakeholders

Organisation

Langit works with smallholder farmers from East Malaysia to promote their unique and heirloom agricultural produce to larger urban markets, locally and regionally. Langit prides itself in championing high quality agricultural products and sustainable farming practices amongst farmers in Malaysia.