Speech by Minister Desmond Lee at the Launch of the Gardening with Edibles Programme

Jun 18, 2020

We are living in very unusual times, but our plans to transform Singapore into a City in Nature must continue. 

We would like to invite you to join us in a new programme, supported by Founding Partners DBS Bank and Tote Board, to grow edible plants at home, with your family.

Under the Gardening with Edibles programme, we will provide you with a pack of free seeds to start home gardening, if you would like to participate. Each pack will contain seeds to grow our own leafy greens and fruited vegetables, and a plant care guide in our four languages. We chose plants that feature strongly in our local food. You can grow them in your homes, gardens, and along corridors.

Our NParks gardeners are putting together a series of DIY videos and resources. These will guide you through your gardening journey, from planting and growing to harvesting and cooking them in your kitchen. These will be available on NParks’ YouTube channel.

For our experienced gardeners, NParks will provide resources to help you grow edible plants that are more challenging to grow.

Home gardening gives our families meaningful activities to bond through learning and encourages more Singaporeans to be part of our community gardening movement. 

When the COVID-19 situation improves, we will launch more community gardens and allotment gardens across Singapore. This will allow more Singaporeans to grow wider varieties of edible plants, including herbs and spices.

Through the Gardening with Edibles programme, we also hope to raise awareness of the value of food and the need to reduce food wastage. Our children will experience the challenges of growing food, and appreciate the efforts of our local farmers. This will support our Singapore Food Story, which was launched by my colleague Minister for the Environment and Water Resources (MEWR) Masagos Zulkifli earlier this year. 

This programme also complements our “30 by 30” push to produce 30% of our nutritional needs in Singapore by 2030. The potential risk of disruption to our food supply during the COVID-19 situation underscores the importance of our local food farms, and growing more food locally, as part of our strategy to strengthen food security and build greater social resilience.

I hope that these packs of seeds will spark hope and joy in each household, and all of us can try growing plants and vegetables for our own consumption. 

I am confident we will emerge from this crisis a stronger and more resilient Singapore, as we grow our City in Nature together.