JOHOR BARU: A temple here is cultivating chillies in a bid to sustain itself amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

       Sri Subramaniar temple chairman K. Arumugan said the agricultural project was launched to keep the temple afloat after it suffered losses for over a year following the closure of all places of worship.

       “In March this year, we had started a car wash project to generate income, but due to MCO 3.0, it had to be halted.

       “Since we have a piece of idle land at the back of the temple, we decided to start an agriculture project.

       “We hope the income from this venture can help us to maintain the temple,” he said.

       Arumugan said the temple needed at least RM5,000 a month to pay for both salaries for three workers and for utilities. The project was led by temple secretary N. Gnanasambanthan, who has years of experience in the agriculture sector.

       He said a total of 650 centil chillies were planted in polybags over the 0.6ha of land that was previously used as a car park area.

       “Coco peat is used as soil to allow the plants to retain more moisture. We have also adopted the fertigation system, which is a modern agricultural method where the fertiliser is incorporated into the irrigation system,” he said.

       Arumugan said they had also installed an irrigation system that would automatically distribute water to the plants five times a day for about three minutes each time.

       “We would put fertilisers into a tank, which is the main source of water for the irrigation system, once a day.

       “The initial cost for the project is about RM7,000. The chillies were planted about 35 days ago and we expect the crops to start flowering in the next 35 days,” he said, adding that after flowering for 20 days, the plants could be harvested for its chillies.

       Arumugan said the chillies could be sold for RM18 per kg and generate about RM3,000 each month. Plans are in the pipeline to plant cucumber, brinjal and lady fingers if the current project is successful.