Singapore’s revised 2035 farming goals ‘balance ambition and pragmatism’ amid challenges: Zaqy

SINGAPORE - The revised 2035 targets for Singapore’s farms “balance ambition and pragmatism” by considering the food types that can be scaled locally, as well as high production costs and other challenges facing the sector.

Senior Minister of State for Sustainability and the Environment Zaqy Mohamad said this in Parliament on Jan 13.

He was responding to questions from MPs regarding the Government’s recent decision to scrap

its original aspirational goal of producing 30 per cent of the country’s food needs by 2030.

A few MPs asked if the new targets can be achieved or remain aspirational.

In November, the Government dropped the “30 by 30” target after a year-long review amid headwinds confronting the local agritech sector, from farm closures to production declines.

Revised goals were set instead for 2035. One of these is for Singapore to produce 20 per cent of the country’s consumed fibre – a category that comprises leafy and fruited vegetables, bean sprouts and mushrooms. In 2024, about 8 per cent of fibre consumed in the Republic was farmed here.  

Another is for local production of protein – comprising both eggs and seafood – to meet 30 per cent of total domestic consumption within the same timeline, up from 26 per cent in 2024.

The 2035 targets are part of a fresh four-pronged strategy to ensure Singapore’s food security. The other three pillars are diversifying imports, stockpiling, and forging agreements with countries to strengthen food trade and provide assurance that there would not be trade restrictions imposed on food items. 

The four-pronged strategy “aims to bring about overall food resilience – (ensuring) we have sufficient food supply in times of disruption”, Mr Zaqy told the House.

Workers’ Party MP He Ting Ru (Sengkang GRC) asked how many days Singapore could sustain itself on local produce alone under the new targets, if the Republic’s food imports were to stop completely.

Mr Zaqy pointed to Singapore’s stockpiling scheme, where items such as rice, canned food and frozen chicken are stored in warehouses as a key safeguard against import shocks.

But due to national security reasons, he added that “it is not wise for us to reveal how long we can hold out with our stockpiles”.

Local farms have a role in providing fresh food and vegetables that cannot be stored as stockpiles.

Over the past few years, local farms – especially high-tech vertical farms and aquaculture sites – have been plagued by high capital and energy costs, supply chain breakdowns and weakened investor confidence.

In the light of the challenges facing Singapore’s nascent farming sector, local farms will receive more support in reducing production costs, and in securing resources and demand for their produce, Mr Zaqy told the House.

More information on the support schemes will be provided at the upcoming debate on his ministry’s budget in the next couple of months.

Mr Dennis Tan (Hougang) asked if the Government could also offer grants to help farms alleviate their operating costs.

To that, Mr Zaqy said grants to alleviate operating costs are “a slippery slope”. “Where we want to focus on is really capability building... and new ways of farming” to overcome land and manpower constraints, he added.

He highlighted efforts between the Government and the industry in locally producing higher quality eggs and fingerlings of Asian seabass and marine tilapia, instead of relying on imported juvenile fish that may have lower survival rates.

As locally farmed produce tends to be pricier than imports, Mr Yip Hon Weng (Yio Chu Kang) asked if the Government has measures to prevent food prices from increasing if the 2035 targets are met.

Due to free market principles, it is not in the interest of consumers nor the Government to fund or subsidise locally grown products, just as this is not done for energy costs and petrol, said Mr Zaqy.