Wednesday, July 4, 2007

Highland veggies

Curious hands unfurl leaves of a cabbage plant at a patch in Kundasang, about 60kms from Kota Kinabalu. For decades, Kundasang has been the centre of temperate vegetable and fruit cultivation in Sabah.
The cultivation of cabbages, carrots, capsicums and asparagus were introduced in Kundasang by Christian missionaries to the indigenous Kadazandusuns of the area in the 1950s.
Sadly though, fuelled by demand for local temperate vegetables, 'outsiders' have been making a beeline for Kundasang and acquired land there. They have resorted to employing cheap but poorly educated Indonesian migrant labour to grow these vegetables. And for years there have been persistent worries that these vegetables contain excessive amounts of pesticide and fertiliser.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

if wonder if there still land available in kundasang area, just a small plot, say an acre, to build a house with a garden.

must be quite expensive though...

Ruben Sario said...

ehem, i just bumped into a friend a few days who said that his father wanted to sell their 2 acre land in kundasang (near mesilau) with 2 and a half houses (what ever that means) at about rm1mil.

so yeah, land in kundang is bit too pricey these days

northborneo said...

why never "tapau" the vege for us??? huh?

Anonymous said...

eh, long time no new postcards? btw, take it easy, man. blog only when you can.. ;)

Ruben Sario said...

northborneo: ey! i was concerned about your health so that's why i didn't bring you any vege. heh heh

jack: thanks bud. i was on a short break from this blog because of work.