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AsiaOne
4 days ago
- Business
- AsiaOne
'A transitional phase': Food security expert not worried by drop in local production of vegetables and seafood, Singapore News
The challenges facing Singapore's agriculture sector — which have led in a dip in local production of vegetables and seafood — reflect a transitional phase for local farms, a food security expert told AsiaOne on Friday (June 6). Professor William Chen, director of the Nanyang Technological University's (NTU) Food Science and Technology Programme, added that it is still "premature" to deem the Government's goal of producing 30 per cent of the country's nutritional needs locally by 2030 a failure. On Thursday, a report released by the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) showed that just three per cent of the vegetables consumed in Singapore were grown locally, down from 3.2 per cent in 2023 and 3.9 the year before. Local production of seafood dropped from 7.3 per cent in 2023 to 6.1 per cent in 2024, which SFA attributed in its Singapore Food Statistics report that it is partly due to the "restructuring of a few fish farms in Singapore". Prof Chen said while the findings from SFA's report looks "disappointing", he sees several positive signs which are encouraging to the sector. Local production of eggs increased by 13 per cent in 2024. The three farms in Singapore produced 34.4 per cent of all eggs consumed in 2024, up from 31.9 per cent. Prof Chen's echoed SFA's observation that the increase is due to farm upgrades and improve operational efficiencies. "We've been (producing eggs) since the late '60s, and over the years we have gone through technological adoption and integration… and now we only have three egg farms but we produced so much more eggs," he said. Like eggs, vegetables saw an increase in productivity in 2024 — from 227.2 tonnes per hectare per year in 2023 to 231.4 tonnes per hectare per year in 2024. Seafood productivity also saw an increase of 38.6 tonnes per hectare per year in 2023 to 40.7 tonnes per hectare per year in 2024. While overall output has declined, Prof Chen noted that the increased efficiency in local vegetable and seafood production is an "encouraging" development. "The number of farms is lower over the years, but the willingness to adopt technology is higher," he said. "What we see now is a transition… we must let go some traditional practices to free up space for new players with higher level of technology readiness." Speaking to the media, Damian Chan, chief executive of SFA, said that the broad plan for the sector is to focus not on the number of farms in Singapore, but on ensuring that farms can be productive and financially viable. This is done through the $60 million Agri-food Cluster Transformation Fund, which will help farms adopt technologies such as advanced, automated farming equipment and infrastructure. "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," said Chan. 'Too early' to write off 30 by 30 goal Since 2019, Singapore has had an ambitious "30 by 30" goal yesterday to produce 30 per cent of Singapore's nutritional needs locally by 2030. But in March, then Minister of State for Sustainability and the Environment Koh Poh Koon said that the target is being reviewed. While local food production in 2024 made up less than 10 per cent of total demand, Prof Chen said it is still too early to write off the Government's plan for the sector. External factors, such as the Covid-19 pandemic and geopolitical tensions, have disrupted the global supply chain, he added. "So, if we look at everything as a whole, we are only talking about two, three years of progress," said Prof Chen. He added that, just like how egg production in Singapore took years to bear fruit, the Government's plans on leveraging technology in local farms take time to be economically viable. "The number is there as a goal, to align people together. It's not for people to come back and question, 'how come we could not make it right?'" [[nid:718214]] chingshijie@
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.
