Building Our Local Production Capabilities

Strengthening our food security

Strengthening our food security

With the majority of our food imported, local production is important to reduce our reliance on food imports. It can also mitigate the impact of supply disruptions.

That is why we're working towards building up our agri-food industry's capability and capacity - so our local farms can grow more food with fewer resources while protecting our environment.

83% of those polled in our recent survey think it is important for Singapore to be able to produce her own food to reduce reliance on imports.

With just 1% of Singapore’s land set aside for farming given the many competing land needs, the agri-food industry will need to significantly uplift its productivity in the coming years. To overcome our land and resource constraints, some of our farmers have turned to technology and innovative ways to increase production.

For example, some farms are using indoor multi-storey LED lighting and recirculating aquaculture systems to produce 10 to 15 times more than traditional farms!

A vegetable farm in Singapore

Transforming Our Agri-Food Industry

To support the industry in its transformation into one that is highly productive, climate-resilient, and resource-efficient, SFA is employing the following strategies:

  1. Holistic planning of the Lim Chu Kang area to optimise food production and expansion of sustainable fish farming in the deeper southern waters of Singapore;

  2. Supporting the agri-food sector to transform into one that is highly productive, climate-resilient and resource-efficient through the Agri-Cluster Transformation (ACT) fund;

  3. The ACT fund supports farms’ needs in different aspects, such as capability upgrade, innovation and test-bedding, as well as tech upscaling.

  4. Providing funding support for innovative research projects in sustainable urban food production, future foods, and food safety science and innovation, through the Singapore Food Story R&D Programme which was allocated more than $309 million of funds;

  5. Rallying citizens to play a part through branding and promotion of local produce, which enables local farms to grow their business sustainably;

  6. Working with Institutes of Higher Learning to offer courses to develop a skilled agri-food workforce and provide good jobs for Singaporeans.

Beyond increasing local food production, we are also diversifying our food import sources to reduce the risk of reliance on any single source. Read more about our SG Food Story here.