Unsri Agriculture Faculty Member Encourages Residents to Grow Vegetables Using a Floating System

To help the public engage in floating vegetable cultivation, a guidebook on this practice has been prepared, said Prof. Benyamin during the launch of his second book on floating vegetable cultivation in Palembang on Saturday.

He explained that through this book, the public can learn about the history of floating vegetable cultivation and the types of vegetables suitable for this method.

They can also learn how to build floating rafts, as well as the prospects for floating vegetable cultivation.

Floating vegetable cultivation is not a new concept, as this method has been practiced by communities since the 11th century—during Mexico’s pre-colonial era—in the Nahua tribal settlement of Culhuacan, located in the Valley of Mexico.

The origins of floating vegetable cultivation in Indonesia were inspired by activities already carried out by farmers for floating rice seedling cultivation in the swamps of eastern Sumatra and the central and southern regions of Kalimantan.

However, to date, the application of floating vegetable cultivation has not yet become widespread in Indonesia, which motivated him to write a book to educate and inspire the public.

Regarding which vegetable crops are suitable for floating cultivation, Benyamin explained that the crops primarily suited for this method are essentially terrestrial plants that cannot be grown when swampy land is flooded.

The vegetable crops that should be the top choice for floating cultivation are those that meet technical criteria such as having a relatively small canopy size and being lightweight, so they do not require a large area and do not place a heavy burden on the floating rafts.

Their cultivation or production cycle is short—they can be harvested in just a few weeks—allowing for at least six harvests per year.

Leafy vegetables that can be productively cultivated using the floating cultivation system include land water spinach, various types of mustard greens, celery, lettuce, Swiss chard, Chinese cabbage, cabbage, and broccoli.

Meanwhile, fruit vegetables that grow well in floating cultivation systems include chili peppers, eggplants, and tomatoes, he said.

According to him, floating vegetable cultivation will become a reality as part of efforts to increase production to meet the food needs of a growing population.

A clear trend is that the availability of land for agricultural activities is steadily decreasing, either due to the conversion of farmland into land for various social and community needs or because it has been damaged by contamination from various types of chemicals.

By developing floating vegetable cultivation, there is no reason why the public—especially those without land—cannot grow various types of leafy vegetables and fruits, and this can support the South Sumatra Food Self-Sufficiency Movement (GSMP) program initiated by Governor Herman Deru, said Prof. Benyamin.