Hansar Samui Converts Wasteland into Vegetable and Fish Farm

Hansar Samui’s General Manager, Indra Budiman, recently rented some wasteland adjacent to the hotel and has had it converted it into an organic vegetable and aquaponic fish farm.

An hydroponic berry farm is also in the plans.

Produce from these facilities will be used by the hotel to create fresh, chemical free herbs, fruits and vegetables for guests and staff.

The land adjacent to the hotel measures half an hectar and was previously used as a dumping ground. In addition to making this land now more attractive, it is being put to use growing organic vegetables which are in the second season of planting.

Herbs currently growing are three different varieties of ginger, galangal, turmeric, lemongrass, rosemary, holy basil, thyme, tarragon, Italian basil.

Fruits and vegetables include morning glory, Chinese kale, several varieties of lettuce, green cabbage, bunching onions, green pai tsai, sweet potatoes, sweet corn, baby corn, pea eggplant, cucumber, round egg plant, seedless yellow water melon, seedless red watermelon, tomatoes (cherry varieties: yellow, black, purple), bell peppers, chilies, papaya.

Dried leaves and refuse are used for compost and harvested back into the ground.

Intercropping is also being used in the hotel’s organic garden – where one plant creates natural enzymes can that kill diseases or bugs on another plant. For example, if lemongrass is grown together with chili or tomatoes, it will provide a natural remedy for the tomatoes or chilli plants to be immune from white spots, as the enzymes created by the lemongrass are beneficial to the neighboring plant, without using any chemicals.

The land being used also has two large ponds that were previously being used for water tanks. Now converted to fish farms, the two tanks currently house around 3500 Tilapia fish. The fish are harvested every three months.

Team Effort

Rather than have only the kitchen and landscaping teams involved, Hansar Samui’s management have the whole hotel team working on the project. Each department has their own plot within the land and are provided with seeds to plant. Each year there will be four seasons for planting/harvesting, and the team with the best result will receive a sustainable certificate award.

In addition to harvesting the produce for use in the hotel, the hotel plans to sell organic vegetables to other hotels on the island and use the revenue for donations to local temples and schools in the area.

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