Residents at the Palms on Thursday reaped the first crop of the vegetables grown from its garden, cultivated in response to the Ministry of Agriculture’s ‘Grow more’ campaign.

According to a Government Information Agency (GINA) press release the project benefited from technical assistance from Jerry La Gra, a member of the Society for Sustainable Operating System (SSOS). He said the vegetables planted: poi, pak choy, sweet peppers, lettuce and celery, are organic and they were cultivated under a pilot project for the institution using the “square yard gardening” concept.

Administrator of the institution Mohammed Yasin lauded the initiative as “a therapy”. He said too that the concept is simple and would be easy to maintain. “The result has been impressive and I would like to expand this project in a larger scale,” he said. John Harry, a resident of the Palms said he was happy about the new development and is looking forward for its expansion since gardening is one of his hobbies.

The Palms falls under the purview of the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security. Every year government allocates over $60M for the maintenance and renovation of various facilities at the home and for food and clothing for its residents who currently number 235.