Plan in place to help local farms produce more, stay financially viable: SFA chief

Govt extending funding support for tech adoption; opening up more land, sea spaces

- Shabana Begum

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), on May 29.

In his first interview since he took on the role as head of SFA in May 2024, Mr Chan said that 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 2024 Singapore Food Statistics report on June 5, which found that the local production of vegetables and seafood had dipped, although egg farms continued 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."