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Straits Times
5 days ago
- Business
- Straits Times
Local production of vegetables and seafood fell again in 2024: Report
Overall, Singapore's local food production in 2024 made up less than 10 per cent of total demand. PHOTO: ST FILE SINGAPORE - Local production of vegetables and seafood declined further in 2024 in a continued setback to the Republic's initial target of producing 30 per cent of its nutritional needs by 2030. In 2024, 3 per cent of vegetables consumed were grown locally, down from 3.2 per cent in 2023. Local seafood production dropped from 7.3 per cent in 2023 to 6.1 per cent in 2024, according to the 2024 Singapore Food Statistics report, released on June 5. Overall, vegetable farming and aquaculture production has been declining since 2021. The country's three egg farms, however, bucked the downward trend. These high-tech facilities produced 34.4 per cent of all eggs consumed in 2024, up from 31.9 per cent . In 2024, there were 153 farms on land – most of which grow vegetables – down from 156 the year before. The 72 sea-based farms in 2024 is also a decline from the 98 the previous year. Overall, Singapore's local food production in 2024 made up less than 10 per cent of total demand . The 2024 figures come after a series of disruptions to the local farming sector, with some high-profile farms closing down, and others delaying plans or scaling back on production over the past couple of years. Farming sector shake-up Singapore has three main pillars under its food security strategy. The main one is diversifying food sources by importing from 187 countries and regions , followed by stockpiling rice in the event of emergencies. But local production is still considered critical for the country's food security, as it ensures the Republic has access to key food types, such as seafood, eggs and vegetables, even during supply chain disruptions. Since 2019, Singapore has had an aspirational target to locally produce 30 per cent of its nutritional needs by 2030, but it was revealed in Parliament in March that the 30 by 30 target is being reviewed. In the report, the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) said the lower production for seafood was 'partly due to the restructuring of a few fish farms in Singapore'. The Straits Times had previously reported that a quarter of sea-based farms exited in 2024, because of the higher costs of maintaining the farms, the need to pay for the use of sea spaces under a recent scheme , and changing environmental conditions that could impact yield, among other reasons. Farmers also chose to retire, with some taking up a financial support package of up to $100,000 from SFA to wind up operations. ST had asked how many farms have taken up this package , but SFA did not reveal the figures. On the drop in local production of vegetables and fish, SFA chief executive Damian Chan said on May 29 in his first interview with the media since taking on his new role in May 2024: 'We've seen how factors like higher operating costs, especially energy costs, the weaker investment climate in high-tech farming and also the challenges which the farms face in securing ( sales ) has impacted them. 'While energy cost has lowered a bit since the past few years, it's still relatively more expensive than in other countries.' And since local produce typically costs more than imported ones, shoppers tend to opt for the more affordable leafy greens and fish, affecting demand. As for eggs, the report said that farm upgrades and improved operations contributed to the growth in egg farms. Review of local production target On the review of the 30 by 30 target, Mr Chan said the goal was mooted at a time before the Covid-19 pandemic and the Ukraine-Russia war, which disrupted supply chains and led to an energy crisis. 'There are some things which we need to work with individually with the farms to help them. There are some things which probably need to be done more at a policy level. There are some things that need to be done at the infrastructure level and so on,' he said, when asked about the progress of the review. Mr Chan also stressed that it is productivity, not the number of farms, that is critical for Singapore's local production to contribute to food security. 'One thing I want to stress, we don't necessarily need more farms. But what we need is more farms that have sufficient scale to be productive, competitive and financially sustainable,' he added. There are promising signs of this, noted the report, which said that some farms, including high-tech ones, have been yielding more produce and fish using less space . Some farms, including high-tech ones, have been yielding more produce and fish using less space. PHOTO: ST FILE Vegetable farms' annual productivity increased from 227.2 tonnes of greens per hectare in 2023 to 231.4 tonnes per hectare in 2024. The report also hinted at some optimism that the country will pick up pace in its vegetables and seafood production, stating that '2025 and 2026 will see the set-up and ramp-up of a few large-scale indoor vertical farms that are climate-resilient, productive and competitive'. The Straits Times understands that one of them is Artisan Green, which currently runs a small-scale vegetable-growing indoor facility in Kallang. Its chief executive, Mr Ray Poh, told ST the launch of its new 2ha site in Sungei Tengah, initially scheduled to open in 2025, has been pushed to the third quarter of 2026 due to the site's design changes . The site – around the size of three football fields – will have an indoor production area of 5,500 sq m and an outdoor greenhouse of 0.65ha , with a visitor centre and restaurant. SFA's Mr Chan said some of the upcoming farms are expansions of existing firms, and at least one of them will be 'quite a large-scale facility', without providing further details. On seafood, SFA has said it plans to open up more aquaculture spaces in the East Johor Strait from 2026, with a target of raising local production of seafood there to up to 6,700 tonnes annually. This is nearly double the amount of seafood Singapore produced in 2024, which was 3,500 tonnes. The report also touched on food safety, another area under SFA's ambit. It said the cases of food poisoning in 2024 had increased, with close to 23 cases of foodborne illness for every 100,000 people, up from 21.9 cases in 2023. More than half of the cases in 2024 involved catered food, the report said. One food safety incident is still under investigation and was not counted in the report, SFA said. There were several high-profile food poisoning outbreaks in 2024, from the July incident at the ByteDance office, which affected 169 people, to over 160 personnel at the Civil Defence Academy reporting sick the same month. SFA then stepped up checks at catering establishments and met associations in the food sector to share key insights from the outbreaks. Shabana Begum is a correspondent, with a focus on environment and science, at The Straits Times. Join ST's WhatsApp Channel and get the latest news and must-reads.
Straits Times
5 days ago
- Business
- Straits Times
Plan in place to help local farms produce more, stay financially viable: SFA chief
SINGAPORE - High-tech agriculture is a nascent sector globally , and as Singapore ventures into this area, work is under way to address some of the challenges faced by local farms, said Mr Damian Chan, chief executive of the Singapore Food Agency (SFA). In his first interview since he took on the role as head of the SFA in May 2024, Mr Chan on May 29 said he was aware of the pains faced by the sector, which has seen a spate of closures and reduced production levels for vegetables and seafood. He also outlined an overarching strategy to help boost local production, which includes opening up new farm spaces, efforts to ensure a healthy supply of baby fish for farms to grow, and ensuring that every harvest is consistently sold to shore up farms' revenue. He was speaking to local media ahead of the release of the food statistics on June 5, which found that the local production of vegetables and seafood had dipped in 2024, although egg farms continue to do well. Singapore's main strategy to safeguard food security is to diversify its food sources by importing from 187 countries and regions. But local production, which now makes up less than 10 per cent of the country's total food consumption, is also considered a critical buffer to supply shocks. There had initially been efforts to increase local production to 30 per cent of demand by 2030, but recent headwinds – such as reduced investor interest and higher electricity prices – have prompted a review of this goal. Said Mr Chan, 52: 'High productivity farming is still a nascent sector in Singapore and globally as well. So it needs more time to develop, mature and for our farms to evolve their business models to make it more economically viable for them.' He added: 'My focus then is on having more farms, which are financially sustainable and productive. Priority is problem-solving, helping the farms, which are committed and capable.' Mr Chan said that in general, the broad plan is to focus not on the number of farms in Singapore but to ensure that farms can be productive and financially viable. The Government is helping farms to achieve this by, for example, extending funding support to help farms adopt technologies such as advanced, automated farming equipment and infrastructure. This is done through the $60 million Agri-food Cluster Transformation Fund, which had its scope recently expanded to cover marketing expenses and pre- and post-harvest facilities. The Government will also open up more land and sea spaces for farms that can be financially viable, he said. For example, the SFA will soon be releasing new land tenders in Sungei Tengah and Lim Chu Kang that can be used for either aquaculture or vegetable farming, he added. The agency also plans to open up more aquaculture spaces in the East Johor Strait from 2026, with a target of raising production of seafood there to up to 6,700 tonnes annually – almost twice the 3,500 tonnes produced in Singapore in 2024 . Farm land currently makes up only about 1 per cent of the country's land area. At a broader level, plans for a 390ha high-tech agri-food hub in Lim Chu Kang was announced in 2020. It was reported in late 2024 that this Lim Chu Kang masterplan, as well as construction work for the neighbouring Agri-Food Innovation Park was delayed . Asked for updates on this, Mr Chan would only say this was a priority area for the SFA and it is looking into how best to implement the project . Another pain point the Government has sought to address is the high rate of fish mortalities in local farms, caused by low-quality baby fish – or fingerlings – sourced from overseas. Fingerlings from abroad may carry diseases and be of inconsistent quality, worsened by their long journey to Singapore. Mortalities here can reach 80 per cent due to the inconsistent qualities of eggs and fingerlings. To prevent such losses, several aquaculture players have long called for a local supply of young fish that are fast-growing and genetically superior. In late 2024, SFA announced the National Broodstock Centres for Asian seabass and marine tilapia, where the young fishes will be bred. Certified hatcheries will then rear the newly hatched fishes and sell the fingerlings to farms. 'Increasing their grow-out rate and reducing mortality will make significant differences to the competitiveness of our aquaculture farms,' said Mr Chan. Finally, for farms to remain financially viable, they must also have buyers ready to purchase their produce. This is because local farms are competing against cheaper imports. 'It is definitely not as easy as just grow and you can sell,' said Mr Chan. He advised farms to talk to large customers, such as supermarkets, restaurant chains and food manufacturers to negotiate long-term partnerships. He also stressed the need for farms to come together and sell their produce under a common brand to attract larger retailers. This will then help the farms achieve economies of scale and widen their market share. 'Many of the large (customers) I talked to, they tell SFA that most farms outside of the egg farms are not large enough to provide necessary quantities to them, and they cannot be talking to a multitude of small farms,' Mr Chan noted. In one initiative, the Singapore Agro-Food Enterprises Federation (Safef) started two brands to sell leafy greens and tilapia from a bloc of local farms. Chye sim, lettuce and xiao bai cai, for example, were selling at $1.78 for 200g. As at February 2025, sales in FairPrice increased about fivefold for the xiao bai cai, and twofold for the tilapia. How to strengthen the four pillars – providing farms with funding support, ensuring sales of local produce, increasing farming spaces and quality of baby fish – will be looked into during the review on the 30 by 30 goal, added Mr Chan. He took over SFA in May 2024 after a decades-long career at the Economic Development Board (EDB). Before leaving EDB, he was its executive vice-president who oversaw planning and policy in several areas including agri-food and environmental sustainability. Asked how his years at EDB had shaped his perception of the local farming sector, Mr Chan said the experience gave him a 'problem-solving mindset' to uncover challenges faced by a sector and develop solutions for them. At EDB, Mr Chan said he often took an industry-wide view of a sector. But at SFA, he often has to work with individual farms. Mr Chan said: 'EDB looks at industries which sell to the region, or globally. The agri-food sector is one which, at least today, is still primarily selling to the domestic Singapore market. And, of course, it's one which is fragmented. You have many small players. 'So that's where really understanding the problems of the farm at the industry level, and also at the farm-specific level, is critical. I'd like to assure them that we will look and continue to... provide them with more targeted support along the value chain.' Shabana Begum is a correspondent, with a focus on environment and science, at The Straits Times. Join ST's WhatsApp Channel and get the latest news and must-reads.
