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International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences

Open Access Journal

ISSN: 2222-6990

Conquer the Declining of Urban Food Security: A Concatenation of Participation & Social Capital upon Economic Empowerment study in Klang Valley, Malaysia

Nur Shuhamin Nazuri, Nobaya Ahmad, Mohd Roslan Rosnon, Siti Shazwani Ahmad Suhaimi, Razif Sazali

http://dx.doi.org/10.6007/IJARBSS/v11-i12/11864

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Urban agriculture (UA) is one of the Malaysian government’s initiatives to overcome food security issues by providing food or related services within or on the edges of urban areas. In relation to that, one of the ideas is to empower the local community in developing the social capital of the nation through the government UA programs. However, there is an existing gap on the effectiveness of the impact of UA towards the respective community. Hence, through this study, it will discover the factors that affect the empowerment of UA program’s participants. Total of 212 respondents between the ages of 21 years old to 60 years and above from the Klang Valley region (vicinal town of Selangor and Kuala Lumpur States of Malaysia) have participated in this study. The data were collected through the survey in qualitative study and interpreted using the SPSS software. Through the analysis, it is found that the respondents have high levels in the planning program for bonding social capital, bridging social capital, and economic empowerment. In addition, the factors of linking social capital, planning, and evaluation in a program are among the significant predictors of empowerment of UA program’s participants. Also, the finding of this study adds to the new point of view in complexities associated with UA among urban communities. On the other hand, it is beneficial for policy makers to utilize extension officers' role in Malaysia as a tool to increase the participation of Klang Valley urban communities to partake in Urban Agriculture project. It is recommended for more specific courses and involvement of many stakeholders to enhance urban communities’ awareness and acceptance towards Urban Agriculture. Positively, this study suggests a new direction for getting more urban dwellers to be involved in innovative cultivation activities, and in the end, it would make agriculture attractive and maintain its sustainability.

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In-Text Citation: (Nazuri et al., 2021)
To Cite this Article: Nazuri, N. S., Ahmad, N., Rosnon, M. R., Suhaimi, S. S. A., & Sazali, R. (2021). Conquer the Declining of Urban Food Security: A Concatenation of Participation & Social Capital upon Economic Empowerment study in Klang Valley, Malaysia. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 11(12), 1085–1096.