KUALA LUMPUR: Prudential Assurance Malaysia Berhad (PAMB), Prudence Foundation and Hopes Malaysia have established PRUCare Farming Sustainability Programme to empower\u00a0310 beneficiaries\u00a0from 60 families in Kota Belud, Sabah.
\nThe\u00a0programme aims to develop small-scale farming techniques to improve food self-sufficiency while generating a sustainable income source for disadvantaged communities.
\nAccording to PAMB, today marked the\u00a0closing ceremony of Phase One of the programme that started last February with RM270,000 in funding where the families were trained and given tools to start their own vegetable and fish farms while selling surplus produce.
\nIn addition to improving food security, the families saw a marked increase in income at 55 per cent on average. Phase Two, which will involve 30 families in Kota Belud for one year, will begin on\u00a0April 1 with a funding amount of RM120,000,\u201d it said in a statement today.
\nMeanwhile, PAMB\u00a0chief marketing and partnerships distribution officer\u00a0Eric Wong said food security and income sources for many families were affected during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds.
\n\u201cAs such, this programme\u2019s goal is to help families not only improve their access to food and nutrition but also offer a second source of income in a sustainable manner that positively impacts their family and community for the long term,\u201d he said in the same statement.
\nHe said Prudential\u2019s goal is to build financial resilience for disadvantaged families and children in Malaysia.
\n\u201cBy empowering communities with our partners, we ensure sustainable livelihoods that will gradually improve a family\u2019s earnings and give the next generation an opportunity to break the cycle of poverty,\u201d Eric added.
\nThe PRUCare Farming Sustainability Programme includes three parts, namely to impart techniques and knowledge on how to maintain vegetable and fish farms;\u00a0to provide high-demand seeds, fish fry and farming equipment as well as to provide platforms for farmers to sell their produce at markets.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Additionally, 22 volunteers comprising Prudential Wealth Planners invested 176 hours throughout the programme to help farmers prepare land for crops, set up fish tanks and sow seeds.\u00a0
\nKihin Gudan, 57, one of the project beneficiaries\u00a0from Kampung Pinolobuh and\u00a0who is the sole provider for her child,\u00a0only earned\u00a0around RM300 before joining the project.\u00a0
\nThrough\u00a0the programme, she\u00a0said she learned how to improve soil fertility and boost crop yield and managed to sell her harvests in local markets, boosting\u00a0her family\u2019s income to over RM3,000, up by 90 per cent a month.\u00a0
\n\u201cWe can eat as many vegetables as we want now. We are never hungry. I couldn\u2019t spend time making bags before, but now I have fewer worries,\u201d said Kihin, who now can focus on producing crafts in addition to farming.
\n\u00a0Duliam Kuliat, 62, of\u00a0Kampung Bukid said the diet of her 11 family members has improved from the abundance of fish and crops, while also greatly reducing the amount spent on food each month.
\nShe added that, through selling her surplus harvests, the family has earned up to 70 per cent more per month.
\n\u201cEvery month we can save a bit of money for emergencies or my children\u2019s studies. I feel less stressed now if something happens in the future,\u201d she said.
\n— BERNAMA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KUALA LUMPUR: Prudential Assurance Malaysia Berhad (PAMB), Prudence Foundation and Hopes Malaysia have established PRUCare Farming Sustainability Programme to empower\u00a0310 beneficiaries\u00a0from 60 families in Kota Belud, Sabah. The\u00a0programme aims to develop small-scale farming techniques to improve food self-sufficiency while generating a sustainable income source for disadvantaged communities. According to PAMB, today marked the\u00a0closing ceremony of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":19349,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-19348","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-local-news"},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jesseltontimes.com\/wpmarch2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jesseltontimes.com\/wpmarch2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jesseltontimes.com\/wpmarch2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jesseltontimes.com\/wpmarch2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jesseltontimes.com\/wpmarch2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19348"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jesseltontimes.com\/wpmarch2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19348\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19350,"href":"https:\/\/jesseltontimes.com\/wpmarch2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19348\/revisions\/19350"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jesseltontimes.com\/wpmarch2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jesseltontimes.com\/wpmarch2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jesseltontimes.com\/wpmarch2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jesseltontimes.com\/wpmarch2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}