By Wang Lili

SINGAPORE, June 19 (Xinhua) -- The Second day after the Singaporean government has initiated a program to encourage planting vegetables at home, Yang Weixun, a local resident, has bought a packet of planting soil Friday.

The Gardening with Edibles program was launched Thursday, to send free seed packs to registered households and teach them how to sow, nurture, and cook edible plants at home through a series of videos from the National Parks Board of Singapore, known as a garden city for its lush greenery.

"In line with the government's program, I have prepared the soil and got ready to become a farmer in the city, only waiting for the seedlings to be dispatched by the government," said Yang, smiling.

The bag of soil weighs 70 liters and costs Yang, who works with the China Enterprises Association (Singapore), 38 Singapore dollars (about 27 U.S. dollars).

The interested households can register online before June 30 and will receive the seed packets before Aug. 1 by mail. The seed packets contain seeds for one type of leafy vegetable, one type of fruited vegetable, and a plant care sheet in four languages. It's reported that vegetables, including tomato, amaranth, eggplant and lady finger, will be sent out to be grown in corridors, on balconies, and in other available home spaces in Singapore.

In a message at the program launch, Singapore's Second Minister for National Development and Minister for Social and Family Development Desmond Lee said that the program will bring nature into homes and contribute towards building social resilience and self-reliance.

"We can grow our own edible plants, enjoy the therapeutic benefits of gardening, and use this as an opportunity to teach our children about the value of food," he said.

According to him, this program will also strengthen the social resilience and contribute to the food resilience, adding that it is aligned with Singapore's national food security strategy unveiled last year to produce 30 percent of Singapore's nutritional needs locally by the year 2030.

He added that with the improvement of the COVID-19 situation in Singapore, they will launch more community gardens and allotment gardens across Singapore to grow edible plants, including herbs and spices.

Also on Friday, local media quoted Masagos Zulkifli, Minister of the Environment and Water Resources, as saying that growing more food locally and increasing the number of import sources are ways that Singapore safeguards its food security in the face of shocks like COVID-19.

"(There have been) price fluctuations, supply disruptions, and we therefore have been thinking about what we have to do to tackle this," said Masagos in an interview with The Straits Times and Lianhe Zaobao.

Singapore imports food from more than 170 countries and regions, with only 10 percent of the food being provided locally. Masagos said they would speed up the process to see more food produced domestically.

The government's program is also a perfect match of a fun hobby of Yang.

"I am always interested in gardening, and have enjoyed planting different kinds of vegetables and fruits such as tomato, cucumber, bitter gourd, pepper, banana and pineapple at home," said Yang.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, there were occasions Singaporeans worried about the disruption of food supplies and so they started panic buying or hoarding food. Planting with edibles is not only fun, but also becomes more meaningful, Yang said. Enditem

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