Local production of veggies and seafood rose slightly in 2025, but egg yields dipped

SINGAPORE – Local yields of vegetables and seafood inched up slightly in 2025, despite a falling number of farms in Singapore.

The amount of vegetables grown in Singapore – including leafy greens and mushrooms – rose slightly from 16,400 tonnes in 2024 to 16,600 tonnes in 2025.

Production of seafood grew from 3,500 tonnes in 2024 to 3,800 tonnes in 2025.

But the volume of local eggs produced in 2025 fell by about 5 per cent from the previous year, primarily owing to short-term operational issues faced by some farms, said the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) in its annual food statistics report released on May 8.

Singapore’s three egg-producing farms yielded 736.7 million eggs in 2025, a small dip from 2024’s 773.5 million, which was a six-year high.

Without providing details, SFA said the issues that some of the egg farms faced were localised and do not pose “broader systemic concerns across the sector”.

Mr Edvin Lim, director of egg farm Chew’s Agriculture, told The Straits Times that its production dropped by about 4 per cent in 2025 mainly because of the early culling of older, less productive hens as part of “efforts to improve operational productivity and cost efficiency”.

“Our priority is to ensure that Chew’s Agriculture continues to provide Singapore with a steady supply of fresh, nutritious, and safe eggs at affordable prices,” said Mr Lim.

ST understands that N&N Agriculture also faced operational issues, but the third farm, Seng Choon, was unaffected.

SFA said it continues to work closely with the egg farms to resolve their operational issues as necessary. 

In late 2025, Singapore dropped its “30 by 30” farming target – to produce 30 per cent of the country’s nutritional needs by 2030 – amid a flagging local sector and declining production over the years.

One of the revised targets set is for Singapore to produce 20 per cent of the country’s consumed fibre – comprising leafy and fruited vegetables, bean sprouts and mushrooms – by 2035.

Another target is for local production of protein – comprising eggs and seafood – to meet 30 per cent of total consumption within the same timeline.

In 2025, local farms contributed about 8 per cent of fibre and 25 per cent of protein.

SFA told ST that the slight improvement in vegetable and seafood yields in 2025 was owing to “a confluence of exit of generally less productive farms and, at the same time, gains in the productivity of remaining farms”.

SFA also said in its report that the production of fibre is expected to increase with new capability and capacity from new and upcoming farms and improved productivity across existing farms.

For instance, plots of land in Sungei Tengah were recently awarded to tenders by Fogo Fungi and Artisan Green.

“Companies submitted competitive proposals to produce mushrooms and leafy greens and were chosen based on their incorporation of productive and innovative farming systems, production capability, production track record and the sustainability of their business plans,” added SFA.

The productivity, or yield per hectare, of vegetable and fish farms has continued on the upward trend. Vegetable farms’ productivity increased by close to 10 per cent to 253.3 tonnes per hectare per year in 2025, up from 231.4 tonnes in 2024.

Local farms hit hard, more could exit

The number of local farms has been on a declining trend, with 206 land and sea farms in 2025, down from 225 in 2024. Most of the 139 land farms grow vegetables.

In recent years, local farms – especially those in high-tech greens and aquaculture – have been hit hard by high capital and energy costs, supply chain breakdowns following the Covid-19 pandemic, and weaker investor confidence.

“This has led to delays in farm development and some exits, even as we witnessed new start-ups,” said SFA.

As with any new and nascent sector, there will be some churn, restructuring and consolidation, it added.

The current Middle East conflict is expected to further push up the costs of electricity, fertiliser and fish feed.

In November 2025, ST learnt that agri-tech farm Growy Singapore, which produced baby leaves, salad mixes and microgreens, was winding up and in liquidation less than a year after its official opening.

In 2024, 26 sea-based farms – or about a quarter – exited the market because of the higher costs of maintaining the farms, the need to pay for the use of sea spaces under a new scheme, and changing environmental conditions that could impact yield, among other reasons.

Farmers also chose to retire, with some taking up a financial support package of up to $100,000 from SFA to wind up operations.

Agri-tech experts foresee that more farms may consolidate and close down.

This is a risk for farms that are purely production-led and unable to achieve sufficient scale or productivity, noted Mr Vincent Wei, chief executive of agri-tech firm Archisen.

Adjunct Associate Professor Matthew Tan from the Singapore Institute of Technology said: “I do not think this necessarily signals a failure of Singapore’s agri-food strategy.

“Rather, we are witnessing a structural transition from a larger number of small or less efficient farms towards fewer, but more productive, climate-resilient and technologically enabled operations.”

The Middle East conflict is expected to add pressure to the already tough farming environment in Singapore.

Beyond electricity prices, the conflict can affect transport and shipping costs, imported juvenile fish supply and insurance costs, said Prof Tan, who hopes that climate adaptation financing and aquaculture insurance schemes can further support local farms.

Mr Wei said: “The real issue is not just short-term oil prices, but whether a farm’s operating model is resilient enough under higher-cost conditions.

“I expect investors and farm operators to become more selective. Some projects may be delayed, resized or redesigned if the economics do not work.”

Dip in food poisoning cases

The number of major food poisoning incidents and cases in 2025 dropped compared with in 2024, which saw several high-profile cases, like the ByteDance office incident, which affected 169 people. There were 16.8 cases of foodborne illness for every 100,000 people, down from nearly 23 cases in 2024.

Major gastroenteritis incidents in 2025 dropped to 55, down from 61 in 2024.

The SFA report added that there were fewer cases of foodborne illnesses reported in incidents linked with food catering establishments, compared with 2024.

SFA stepped up efforts to carry out further targeted checks on food catering businesses, engaged industry associations to share key insights from previous outbreaks and reminded operators about good food safety practices.