Making the Most of Every Plot, Sungai Serabek Residents Turn Their Yards into Sources of Nutrition and Income

SAMBAS – The village government and residents of Sungai Serabek, Teluk Keramat District, Sambas Regency, have enthusiastically taken up the 2025 Nutritious Food Yard Programme (Pekarangan Pangan Bergizi, P2B). The programme is clear proof of the residents' creativity and spirit of mutual cooperation in achieving food self-reliance right from their own yards.

Covering around 950 hectares, with most residents working in farming and plantations, the village is seen as having great potential to make the household food security programme a success.

There are now more than 100 self-run P2B plots spread across the three hamlets of Sungai Serabek. The productive use of land is not limited to residents' yards; it also includes the grounds around the village office.

A variety of plant and animal foods

The strength of the P2B programme in Sungai Serabek lies in the variety of food it produces, covering both plant and animal sources. For plant foods, residents grow:

• Mustard greens and celery
• Spring onions, aubergines, tomatoes and chillies
• Fruit such as papaya, mango and pineapple
• Root crops such as cassava

For animal foods, residents raise:

• Catfish
• Chickens, goats and cattle on a household scale

Eco-friendly methods and home-made compost

Notably, farming in the village follows eco-friendly practices. Residents reuse old bottles and recycled containers as seedling pots. To keep their plants fertile, they make their own compost from a mix of soil, cow and goat manure, and rice husk charcoal.

The harvest is not only used to meet families' daily nutritional needs; it is also processed into products with economic value, such as ready-to-cook vegetables, crisps and organic fertiliser sold in local shops.

Real benefits for child nutrition and family income

One resident, who is also a toddler nutrition volunteer in Sungai Serabek, said the yard gardens have been a great help in meeting the nutritional needs of the village's children.

"It's very easy to get vegetables now, we don't have to go all the way to the market. Produce from our own garden is certainly healthier for feeding toddlers, and what we earn from selling it can go towards the children's snacks," the volunteer said.

The volunteer added that neighbours often swap vegetables when they get tired of eating the same dishes.

The programme's success is the result of strong collaboration across many groups, from residents, the village government, the Village Consultative Body (BPD), the Community Empowerment Institution (LPM), the PKK women's organisation, women farmers' groups (KWT), farmer groups and neighbourhood units (RT), to community health centre nutrition staff, agricultural extension workers (PPL), the district and Sambas police, and other related agencies.

Recognition from the Regent of Sambas

High praise came directly from the Regent of Sambas, H. Satono, who affirmed the Sambas Regency Government's full commitment to supporting the sustainability of model villages such as Sungai Serabek.

"I, the Regent of Sambas, H. Satono, fully appreciate and support the Nutritious Food Yard (P2B) Competition organised by the National Police Food Security Task Force and the Sambas Police. I hope this programme improves nutrition and the economy of the people of Sambas," said Regent Satono.

In the same vein, the Sambas Regency Agriculture and Food Security Office expressed high hopes that Sungai Serabek, the official representative of the Sambas Police, will achieve the best possible result in the competition.