LKE Green Tech Farm Visit @ Kampung Manchis, Bentong

LKE Green Tech Farm is another new destination for a place of interest in Bentong. Nevertheless, Bentong, famous for its durian plantation is a big area in Pahang (spanning roughly 70km (1hr+) of the main road from the North to the South part of Bentong). So, LKE Green Tech Farm is not strategically located within the Bentong town that we have known but far away from there which is almost near (4.4km to) the Negeri Sembilan border. I almost fainted in a bus on the way to this farm when the bus turned into a narrow crooked road after the Karak toll. I never experienced this (motion sickness in the vehicle) for a very long time. I stood up in my seat for the last 30 mins to the farm as I felt like vomiting and the bus driver did not seem to slow down to lessen the impact (speed up and gave an immediate brake) while the road condition is not good (potholes). Other passengers on the bus also had motion sickness and one of the guys vomited after the bus stopped.

LKE Green Tech Farm is where the hydroponic farm and ginger farm are located. There are ample parking slots at the entrance.

LKE Green Tech Farm opens from 9am-5pm every day except Monday.

The entrance fee is RM15 per entry. Senior citizens and children below 12 years old with MyKid as well as the residents from Kampung Manchis, Kampung Shafie and Kampung Pelangai (based on IC address), are entitled to a 50% discount for the ticket fare.

Visitors have to climb a flight of staircases toward the cafe and ginger farm.

View from the cafe- facing hydroponic farms, car park and the main road

The hydroponic farm is cool and under temperature control. The vegetables grow well without worrying about the pests.

Visitors can purchase the vegetables from the farm but the price is not cheap. Even though hydroponic technology could save a lot of water and manpower, it consumes a lot of electrical power and is thus more expensive than the conventional soil plantation.

The melon is planted in a polybag. But they look round and juicy.

Yet I have to admit melon is not easy to grow. They attract a lot of pests, insects, and birds.

The same thing applies to tomato plants. I have grown 12 tomato plants (at least) previously, but none of them survived. They easily attract pests and bugs which infest the tree and finally died. I sprayed with neem oil added with soap but it did not help much. The hot weather in Malaysia is also not suitable to grow tomatoes. But if you have a controlled environment (control room) for the tomato plants, it might work well.

We rode on a tuk-tuk that brought us to the other LKE farm tour. The fruit trees are not grown up yet. The white building is their swiftlet farming.

This rare fruit is called Rollinia. I didn't have any chance to try it. I only managed to hold it for picture taking. Taste wise I could not give any comment.

After the tour, we went back via another route through Negeri Sembilan. It is advised by the workers there that the road is less crooked and narrow and much easier to drive. But I don't think I will come here again in future. There is nothing around this place.