News

The Singapore Food Agency’s (SFA) response seems to confuse consumer support for locally farmed produce with the need to reduce reliance on imports and build a more resilient food future ( , Nov 10). Singapore has a clear, measurable goal to build the capability and capacity of our local agri-food industry to produce 30 per cent of our nutritional needs locally and sustainably by 2030. According to SFA, in 2019, Singapore farms produced 12,700 tonnes of leafy vegetables, equivalent to 14 per cent of local consumption. If restaurants and businesses which cater food for the army, airlines, hospitals and homes for the aged can consume around 27,000 tonnes of locally grown leafy vegetables, local producers can plan to meet this demand and fulfil our food sustainability goal for leafy vegetables. Focusing on this market segment, which buys in bulk, allows for demand planning so that our high-tech urban farms can plan the type, quantity and timing of vegetables to produce. And when these farms in Singapore are all integrated on one platform, excess or shortage of certain types of vegetables – the result of each farm operating on its own – can be minimised, keeping our farms commercially viable. High-tech urban farms require land, water, electricity, labour and talent, all of which are scarce resources in Singapore. Coupled with the huge amount of government funding, there is a critical need to focus on achieving our food security goals first before we worry about whether consumers buy local at the supermarkets.