SINGAPORE, Sept 30, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – On the rooftop of a Singapore shopping
mall, a sprawling patch of eggplants, rosemary, bananas and papayas stand in
colourful contrast to the grey skyscrapers of the city-state’s business
district.
The 10,000 square-foot (930 square-metre) site is among a growing number
of rooftop farms in the space-starved country, part of a drive to produce
more food locally and reduce a heavy reliance on imports.
The government has championed the push amid concerns about climate change
reducing crop yields worldwide and trade tensions affecting imports, but it
has been given extra impetus by the coronavirus pandemic.
“The common misconception is that there’s no space for farming in
Singapore because we are land scarce,” said Samuell Ang, chief executive of
Edible Garden City, which runs the site on the mall.
“We want to change the narrative.”
Urban farms are springing up in crowded cities around the world, but the
drive to create rooftop plots has taken on particular urgency in densely
populated Singapore, which imports 90 percent of its food.
Farming was once common in the country, but dwindled dramatically as
Singapore developed into a financial hub packed with high-rises. Now less
than one percent of its land is devoted to agriculture.
In the past few years, however, the city of 5.7 million has seen food
plots sprouting on more and more rooftops.
Authorities last year said they were aiming to source 30 percent of the
population’s “nutritional needs” locally by 2030, and want to increase
production of fish and eggs as well as vegetables.
With coronavirus increasing fears about supply-chain disruption, the
government has accelerated its efforts, announcing the rooftops of nine car
parks would become urban farms and releasing Sg$30 million ($22 million) to
boost local food production.
– ‘Buffer the shock’ –
Edible Garden City, one of several firms operating urban farms in
Singapore, runs about 80 rooftop sites.
But they have also created many food gardens in more unusual places,
including a former prison, in shipping containers, and on high-rise apartment
balconies.
Their farms use only natural pesticides such as neem oil to repel pests.
“What we really want to do is to spread the message of growing our own
food. We want to advocate that you really do not need large parcels of land,”
said the firm’s chief executive Ang.
The company grows more than 50 varieties of food, ranging from eggplants,
red okra and wild passion fruit to leafy vegetables, edible flowers and so-
called “microgreens” — vegetables harvested when they are still young.
It is also using high-tech methods.
At one site inside a shipping container, they are testing a specialised
system of hydroponics — growing plants without soil — developed by a
Japanese company.
The system features sensors that monitor conditions, and strict hygiene
rules mean crops can be grown without pesticides.
Edible Garden City’s produce is harvested, packed and delivered on the
same day — mainly to restaurants — but online customers can also subscribe
to a regular delivery box of fruit and vegetables.
Sales to restaurants slowed when Singapore shut down businesses to contain
the coronavirus from April to June, but Ang said household clients grew
three-fold in the same period.
William Chen, director of the food, science and technology programme at
Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, said developing city farms was
a “way to buffer the shock of supply chain breakdowns”.
“Skyscraper farming in Singapore is certainly a bright option,” he added.
Still, there are limits to what a country half the size of Los Angeles can
achieve, and Chen stressed the city would still have to rely on imports of
other staples, such as meat.
“We don’t have animal farms, and for rice we don’t have the luxury of
land,” he said. “Growing rice and wheat in indoor conditions will be very
costly, if not impossible.”
In addition, a lack of skilled farmers in modern-day Singapore presents a
challenge.
“While we are able to recruit people with an interest in farming, they do
not have the relevant experience,” Ang said.