Pupils from the Thanh Tam Special Private School for Disabled Children in Da Nang recently harvested their first-ever bumper vegetable crop.  The 5-star Hyatt Regency Danang Resort and Spa has already purchased 600kg of their fresh vegetables.  The school successfully applied clean vegetable farming techniques, which meet the requirements set by the resort’s Italian chef Frederik Farina, to grow 20 kinds of vegetables.

Mr Farina has worked for the Hyatt Group for over 10 years and always makes delicious and healthy dishes for his customers.  During his time at the Grand Hyatt Erawan Bangkok Hotel in Thailand, he set up a vegetable farm on a 15.4ha hill to supply clean vegetables for the hotel’s restaurants.

Taking care of vegetables

He decided to cooperate with the Thanh Tam School, which offers academic programmes and vocational training courses for its disabled pupils, to implement a project for growing safe and clean vegetables.  His decision has really taken many people by surprise.

Italian chef Frederik Farina

Mr Farina remarked that the school is offering courses in business gardening for its disabled pupils, and has frequently taken the pupils to local resorts and hotels to learn more about their experiences in gardening techniques.  He added that he deeply respects the school’s teaching staff and pupils for their great determination to implement the project successfully.  The chef and his colleagues helped the disabled pupils to learn how to grow the different kinds of vegetables.

Some of the resort’s staff visiting the vegetable growing area

Following the success of this project, the current vegetable growing area near the school will be expanded by 5,000m2.  Mr Farina and the school will do their utmost to increase the average monthly yield to 2.4 tonnes of vegetables.

The talented chef said he is very happy to cooperate with the school to set up a vegetable farm to ensure a sufficient supply of vegetables for his resort.  He also expressed his delight because the money collected from selling the vegetables will be used for supporting the school’s pupils.