For a young city founded in 1857, Kuala Lumpur’s rapid development has transformed it from a muddy mining outpost into a gleaming modern metropolis, with glass and steel towers stretching toward the skies and concrete pavement lining its meandering streets.
While the city owes its existence to tin, the people who laid its foundations relied on the rich agricultural land that once surrounded it, including areas like Kampung Baru, originally designated as an agricultural settlement.
Today, little remains of that agricultural past, save for landmarks like Bukit Nanas, once known for its abundance of pineapples.
While most KLites today rely on supermarkets for their produce, high above the city’s traffic-clogged streets with a view of the Petronas Twin Towers, John-Hans Oei, CEO and co-founder of Cultiveat, is planting strawberries.
John-Hans Oei, CEO and co-founder of Cultiveat.
Introducing himself as a farmer, the 35-year-old took The Peak up to Level 5 of the Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur to his farm, which occupies an unutilised floor.
“You guys are just a few weeks early,” Oei says as we walk through rows of purpose-built chambers, each growing various kinds of produce from lettuces to rockets.
Gesturing at a still-empty chamber at the end of the hall, he announced, “We will be planting strawberries here soon.”
Sitting in the chilly indoor farm, reverberating with the low hums of fans ventilating the produce, Oei recounted his journey, which led him to earn the trust of one of the biggest names in hospitality to house his unique concept within their walls.
“I actually started in the waste management business,” Oei says.
“Through that business, I got into agriculture because I was looking at how I can use waste, treat it, and grow better produce without any pesticides.”
The jump from waste management to farming was a natural progression for him, as he discovered that traditional agriculture and the restaurant business generate a lot of waste—something he wanted to address.
Cultiveat grows a variety of produce from edible flowers to lettuces and rocket.
Like a true Millennial, Oei started out learning from Google and YouTube, eventually advancing to his own R&D, which culminated in today’s thriving farm.
While produce grown in controlled environments is more expensive than its conventional counterpart, Oei said that this is only the case if F&B kitchens do not factor in wastage, which is much higher with produce grown traditionally.
“You may buy it at RM5, but if you don’t use it in time, you waste a large portion,” he says.
“With our produce, the wastage is far less.”
Considering the amount of produce a top-tier hotel like the Grand Hyatt requires daily for its buffets and three restaurants, it’s easy to see how important it is to reduce waste—a key reason why Cultiveat is here as their partner of choice.
Diving deeper into this, Oei explained that in traditional farming, 60 percent of the produce is lower grade, unsuitable even for morning markets, with only 10 percent achieving Grade A, good enough for certain discerning restaurants and premium retailers.
“But with Cultiveat, 95 percent of our produce is high quality,” he says.
It’s no surprise that nestled within this vertical farm is one of the most coveted Omakase dining experiences in all of Kuala Lumpur, The Hidden Plate, which serves a 17-course meal using much of what is grown around them.
While conventional farming contributes as much as 18 percent of global emissions, Cultiveat aims to cut carbon footprint through efficiency in logistics.
This offers a unique, delicious, and healthy meal in a highly Instagrammable environment, while also aligning with global efforts to minimise carbon footprints. Conventional farming contributes as much as 18 percent of global emissions, a third of which comes from the logistics of delivering produce from farm to plate.
“You don’t have a long delivery route here. Just one lift up to the 38th floor in one day,” he says.
While this indoor farm produces sufficiently for the hotel, Cultiveat also has greenhouse farms in Kapar, Klang, and is looking to expand into other areas in Malaysia.
Although most companies would look south to neighbouring Singapore as the logical next step for growth, Oei expressed reservations about joining the bandwagon of sending Malaysia’s best quality products and produce out of the country, depriving locals of the chance to appreciate and enjoy it.
“We want to export to Singapore, but what about our own countrymen?” he asks.
“I want to strike a balance to make sure that we have good quality produce for Malaysia first, before exporting the rest to secondary markets.”
This sense of prioritising his own country and giving back to the community is something he learned while working in hospitality in Thailand prior to starting Cultiveat.
Articulated by the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej in 1974, the Sufficiency Economy philosophy emphasises the importance or prioritising local consumption before selling surplus produce which continues to guide Thailand’s trade policy until today.
“This is why the local produce there, like mangoes and rice taste so great,” says Oei.
Malaysia instead ships its best durians to China—something he hopes to see changed.
Oei’s love for Malaysia is also reflected in his workforce, all of whom are Malaysians, with 80 percent of them women, averaging around 25 years old.
“I want to show people that there’s a bright future in agriculture,” Oei says, on his mission to bring young people back into farming.
“A lot of them are graduates, and some even have master’s degrees.”
This, he said, was partly due to his realisation that there aren’t many farmers left in the country, and as the population grows to 34 million, the question of food security becomes more pressing.
“It’s going to be a very scary situation—if not in our lifetime, then in our children’s,” Oei says.
“Who is going to grow the produce?”
The profound questions posed by John-Hans Oei and Cultiveat bring us back to the roots that nourish this city, enabling its skyline to rise ever higher.
From an urban farm perched high above, Oei is not only redefining sustainable agriculture but also championing a future where Malaysians have access to fresh, locally-grown produce.
With an eye on food security and a commitment to community, Cultiveat’s journey speaks to a vision that balances innovation with tradition, aiming to restore pride in Malaysian farming while ensuring a greener, self-sufficient tomorrow.
