High-tech solutions aid sustainability

Chickens have been a major topic of discussion since Malaysia banned the export of poultry last month. The bird is Singapore's favourite source of protein, with a per capita consumption of 36kg in 2020, according to the Singapore Food Agency. The issue of food security has become more urgent this year, not just for Singapore but also countries all over the world as supply chain disruptions and inflation worries kick in. As an island city-state with few natural resources, Singapore's survival is predicated on the free flow of trade and goods. Food security has been a central concern and Singapore has been diversifying its food supplies steadily in the past decade. Even before the pandemic, the "30 by 30" plan to produce 30 per cent of the country's food needs by 2030 had been introduced.

The agro-tech push has already seen speedy developments, especially in the field of alternative proteins and cultured meat production. Singapore was the first country to approve the sale of cell-cultured meats in 2020. A slew of meat alternatives are now stocked in supermarkets and offered as a matter of course in a range of eateries.

Besides cultivating food alternatives, Singapore is also developing technologies to reduce food waste and re-purpose the by-products. The most recent example is the partnership between Nanyang Technological University and international chicken producer Leong Hup to turn poultry by-products such as blood and feathers into serums and biodegradable packaging. Singapore's strategies to address scarcity have paid off before. Its high-tech approach to resolving water supply issues has turned it into a global hub for water technology. Its current push to develop agro-tech solutions can likewise build a burgeoning industry as climate change and sustainability dominate global concerns this century. That is like having one's cake and being able to eat it too.