The Department of Social Services of the Arrecife City Council has promoted the creation of urban gardens in the municipality. Under the slogan 'Arrecife plants itself', the project has started at the municipal department's headquarters where an urban garden has been launched on an experimental basis.
According to Carmen Sáez, urban gardens will be one of the projects that can be worked on in the future in the capital of the Island. "For the moment, it is a pilot experience with which we are committed to promoting ecological agriculture, as well as more sustainable methods," said the councilor.
In this way, the Department of Social Services has enabled a plot of 100 square meters located between the Youth Center and the Council, which was not landscaped and on which "it was necessary to act", for the construction of an urban garden, where peas, onions, carrots, radishes, and lettuces have been planted.
For the recovery of this plot, the Council has worked with young people from the social reintegration program carried out by the municipal department, "who have been responsible for converting an abandoned land full of rubble into a productive urban garden".
Two lines of action
Carmen Sáez has also explained that the project also includes the Arrecife Senior Center. "The idea is to act in two aspects: on the one hand, with minors with some type of judicial measures, teaching them a trade and, on the other hand, with seniors with some experience in agriculture as an alternative for leisure," she points out.
The Department of Social Services has requested the collaboration of the Department of Parks and Gardens, so that it designates areas of the city suitable for this type of urban gardens, and that this initiative reaches the entire municipality.
