Growing padi in recycled paint cans

KUALA KANGSAR, Nov 28 (Bernama) -- After seeing his aunt’s success in growing padi in flower pots, Eddrus Iskandar Abd Hamid, came up with the idea of cultivating padi on a small-scale at his house compound at  Kampung Kandang Hilir here. 

However, to be a  little different, instead of using pots, Eddrus Iskandar, 35, decided to use recycled paint cans in his padi farming venture. 

"Initially, my aunt was using the padi husk ash as fertiliser for her plants, such as chili and so forth. In the husks there are unburnt padi grains and she used them to start growing padi in pots,” the former navy personnel told Bernama.

Eddrus Iskandar who began to try out growing padi in paint cans in the middle of this year, said he decided to follow his aunt footstep and became interested because the method was simple and cost-effective.

The concept of growing padi in paint cans and in the padi fields is the same including in terms of water requirement and control, the use of fertilisers, mineral content in the soil and the need for hot weather.

"The seeds sown are either from the rice mill or given by my aunt. Alhamdulillah, I am now able to harvest one kilogramme of padi from three to four paint cans," said  Eddrus Iskandar who also grows vegetables such as chilies and Brazilian spinach.

“Growing padi in paint cans is simple because it does not require a lot of equipment and there is no need to worry about the presence of pests.

"As a rough estimate, 20 pots or paint cans is enough to feed a family of four or five for a month," he said.

Eddrus Iskandar  supports the government's call to the people in this state to grow vegetables and rear livestock for their own use as this would be able address the problem of insufficient food supply and and ease the cost of living burden.

-- BERNAMA