Participants shared their insights on common issues and challenges that are preventing them from being more successful.

Structured questionnaires were used for the FGDs and the data was analysed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS).

Selangor
• Three focus groups in Ijok, Sepang and Kuala Langat
• Two focus groups in Sekinchan, Sabak Bernam

Johor
• One focus group in Simpang Renggam
• One focus group in Batu Pahat

From the total respondents, 93% are male and 7% female. It is clear that conventional taro vegetable cultivation is dominated by men. The socio-economic characteristics of the respondents are found in the full report.

Most farmers are full time (82%) with nearly half attaining secondary school education (42.9%). (see chart below). Fortunately conventional taro cultivation does not require too technical an understanding.

Around 60% of farmers own their agricultural land. The average area of taro cultivation is 1.95 (ha). The majority of farmers consider this agricultural activity as their main source of income. The breakdown of crop contribution to farmers' income is shown below.

Most farmers are members of taro farming association where training and educational programmes are organised for their benefit.

Taro varieties

Traditional vegetables grown in Malaysia are mostly cultivated on a small scale, are freshly consumed, and can be found and collected from the wild. Taro can be categorized into two groups: edible taro and ornamental plant.

Through the FGDs, the main varieties cultivated by the farmers involved are keladi putih, keladi mawar, and keladi cina. There are other varieties grown as well (see full report below).