Deep interest prompts Petronas executive to venture into chilli farming

Starting with only 20 chilli trees which were planted in the compound of his house, the Petronas executive has expanded his community garden project called Rumah Pokok on a quarter-acre plot near Taman Pinggiran Cyber here.

"My job requires me to travel overseas a lot but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I have been forced to spend more time at home.

"That was when I decided to expand my Rumah Pokok assisted by my wife Nurul Azira Azreen Zulhisham," he told Bernama recently.

Sharil Azrin who attended a course on fertigation organised by the Formeniaga Training Centre in 2019, now has cultivated 600 plants, the majority of which are chillies as well as eggplant, cucumber, and rock melon which are also planted using the fertigation technique.

Among the variety of chillies grown at Rumah Pokok are 'cili api bara', Thai chillies (Sakata 508), red chillies (Sakata 461) which have different tastes from one another and are always in high demand.

Sharil Azrin said through the fertigation technique, he is able to harvest 1,000 or 1.5 kg of chillies from each tree in six months.

He said Rumah Pokok's produce would be sold to its regular customers, especially nearby restaurant operators, sambal makers and also end users around the residential area with promotions were made entirely through Facebook.

"We will take orders from Monday to Friday and deliver the chillies to customers on weekends," said Shahril Azrin who now has three workers.

To give back to the community, Sharil Azrin who had spent RM5,000 on Rumah Pokok said he would also donated his agricultural produce to a food bank set up near the residential area as well as orphanages.

In his effort to ensure sustainable agriculture, Sharil Azrin said Rumah Pokok used homemade organic pesticides which he learnt from an agronomist.

He said among the ingredients used to make the organic pesticides were kaffir lime leaves, chilies, dishwashing soap that would be mixed together and let sit for a week.

The mixture would then be ground and filtered before being sprayed on the plants, he added.

"The organic pesticides can be applied almost four to five times a week compared to chemical pesticides that are used every two weeks only.

"The use of the organic pesticides is also in line with Rumah Pokok's slogan, namely 'Murah, Segar dan Selamat' (Cheap, Fresh and Safe)," said Sharil Azrin who also sells chilli seedlings to nurseries around the area.