The Government has already injected huge amounts of funding into the local agricultural industry with the aim of sustainably producing 30 per cent of the nation’s nutritional needs locally by 2030.

Given the cost of subsidising local food production, the need to reduce marketing costs should be a priority. This includes removing costs attributed to intermediaries in the supply chain such as wholesalers and retailers. Direct marketing may be the only viable route for our small local farmers.

Therefore, it is not entirely clear how giving four local vegetable farms the opportunity to sell their produce at FairPrice supermarkets will help reduce their costs (4 S’pore farms to sell produce at 9 FairPrice outlets in pilot scheme, Oct 29).

Have we exhausted opportunities for our local farmers to replace the vegetable imports of restaurants and businesses which cater food for the army, airlines, hospitals and homes for the aged?

Selling directly to these establishments would reduce the labour requirements associated with grading, sorting and packing the produce that consumers demand. It would also allow local farmers to attain economies of scale to sell produce that is grown in high-tech facilities at competitive prices relative to imported vegetables grown via conventional farming methods.

Instead of learning how to display produce such as lettuce and kale at supermarket outlets in a way that would appeal to consumers, local farmers would be better off learning how to develop relationships with restaurants and food caterers to replace their vegetable imports.

Liu Fook Thim