Embattled government agency Community Employment Group (CEG) gave a Porirua mental health provider almost $2000 to visit Auckland to look at taro, hibiscus and citrus cultivation.
The trip by Fagai Care Services - already under investigation for overseas staff trips - was aimed at setting up a similar venture in Porirua.
But scientists say taro bulbs grown in the Wellington region generally cannot be eaten, and the climate is not suited for most citrus crops or hibiscus.
CEG, the body that paid for controversial trips including a hip-hop tour, has confirmed it gave Fagai Care Services $1970 for two people to travel to Pukekohe to view a taro, hibiscus and citrus project.
When Fagai Care sought funding from CEG, the mental health body said the project was aimed at considering the feasibility of replicating a similar horticultural project in Porirua.
Among its longer term aims were "growing funds and developing self sufficiency; to benefit the Porirua community by creating a beautiful landscape; and to bring cultural benefits".
A CEG spokeswoman said Fagai Care had met its key objective in initiating a venture similar to the one in Pukekohe.
Fagai Care had received approval from Porirua City Council to build a tunnel hothouse and was experimenting with tropical plants and taro, she said. But the council said it was unaware of any approval given to Fagai Care for a hothouse.
Fagai Care's former chairman, Tino Meleisea, said though the service was growing flowers, the project "hasn't been successful yet".
"There's still a long way to go before we can go through with it," he said.
Mr Meleisea confirmed two staff members went to look at cultivation projects in Auckland with the aim of setting up a cottage industry to allow its clients to "work in the earth"' as part of their rehabilitation.
But Porirua city councillor Litea Ah Hoi said it was ridiculous that taxpayers had forked out for a trip to Auckland when many Samoan men in Porirua had a vegetable garden in their backyard and could offer advice.
"It sounds ridiculous and it's a complete waste of taxpayer money. You don't need to be an Einstein to work out the plantation system," she said.
Massey University scientist Robert Southward said the Wellington region was generally too cold to grow taro to eat. The climate was also far from ideal for hibiscus and most citrus plants.
Fagai Care was embroiled in controversy last month when "areas of concern" were raised in a forensic audit and a review of service and safety issues.
The investigation is understood to have centred on money spent on 12 overseas trips between 2001 and 2003, including visits to New Mexico and Alaska, and allegations that Fagai Care endangered patients by housing a convicted child-sex offender with them for two weeks.
Capital and Coast District Health Board is to decide this week whether it will continue giving the mental health body $480,000 a year.
Meanwhile, the CEG is under review after it was revealed that it had granted Fuarosa Tamati and her daughter, Saralia, $26,000 from the social entrepreneur fund for a hip-hop research trip to New York, Los Angeles, Hawaii, Fiji, Samoa and Paris.
In another grant, $7000 was paid for two women to go to the United States to study how to encourage more gay and lesbian Maori and Pacific Islanders to take part in sport and cultural activities.
- NZPA
Agency's $2000 taro hand-out
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