Troyan, a small town in North Central Bulgaria, has set up this country's first municipal organic gardens to grow produce for the kindergartens in the town and in nearby Oreshak. The initiative implements a local programme for child and youth health care, Troyan Mayor Donka Mihailova said.
The project has two orchards, hothouses, and a vegetable garden. In the Mayor's words, this is one way to provide a healthy diet for the children. Troyan has plenty of municipal lands and available workforce. Before starting the project, the town studied the experience of a French municipality and consulted partners in Italy.
One orchard is 0.3 ha and has been planted with 556 apple saplings, which are expected to produce some 10 tonnes of apples a year. The municipality has calculated that the kindergarten children need about 7 tonnes. There is also an orchard with the emblematic local fruit, plums. The 0.3 ha orchard was planted about five years ago and is expected to yield between 900 and 1,500 kg of fruit a year.
Three hothouses grow organic vegetables and have lettuce and green onions ready for harvesting.
Harvesting
Tomatoes will be planted in mid-April, and cucumbers and pepper will follow, Mihailova said. The entire effort is in the care of a horticulturist, with gardeners and workers of the municipal community service company lending a hand when there is more work, including the planting or harvesting periods.
Even the municipal administration takes part sometimes. They still have not calculated how much it will cost, for a lot is unknown, but in any case, a large amount of money will be saved. As a result, kindergarten fees will not have to be hiked, which benefits young families in smaller towns, says the Mayor.
A total of 750 children are enrolled in the kindergartens in Troyan Municipality. The municipal team also has plans to have its own beehives to produce honey for the local kindergarten children, and to collect herbs from the mountains near Troyan and use them in the diet of the appropriate age groups.
The team is thinking of ways to get the children of the local Day Centre for Children and Youths involved in gardening: plant vegetables and flowers, and be able to sell and earn an income of their own.
This will establish a small-size social enterprise for disabled children and young people at this facility.
For more information:
Ministry of agriculture, nature and food quality of the Netherlands
www.government.nl/en