Singapore farmers see green shoots in new food policy
Tuesday, 11 August 2009
SINGAPORE, Aug 10 (AFP): Wong Kok Fah, one of Singapore's last remaining farmers, can finally see a future for his vegetable business after 30 years of back-breaking work.
Plans by the industrialised city-state to set aside more land for farming to boost food security have given him hope that the fourth generation of the Wong family can continue the business started by his grandfather.
"In the past, my thinking was I'll do it for as long as I can," Wong, a stocky 48-year-old with a face prematurely aged by too much sun, told AFP at his farm near an army base in the northwestern suburbs.
"How could I make any plans for my business when I could see no future in it?" he said in a mix of Mandarin and English. "It's difficult for the next generation to continue in this business if there's no help from the government."
Mah Bow Tan, the minister for national development, recently announced government plans to allocate more land for intensive farming in a country better known for banking, shopping malls, electronics and pharmaceuticals.
The established strategy of securing the city-state's food supply by keeping a rice stockpile, maintaining a small agricultural sector and diversifying import sources has worked well, Mah explained.
However, soaring food prices amid a global supply crunch in 2008, when inflation hit 28-year highs, highlighted the need to find new ways of reducing Singapore's dependence on food imports.
Food prices have since stabilised but will remain high going forward, said Mah, who added that local farming can serve as a "strategic stockpile".
Plans by the industrialised city-state to set aside more land for farming to boost food security have given him hope that the fourth generation of the Wong family can continue the business started by his grandfather.
"In the past, my thinking was I'll do it for as long as I can," Wong, a stocky 48-year-old with a face prematurely aged by too much sun, told AFP at his farm near an army base in the northwestern suburbs.
"How could I make any plans for my business when I could see no future in it?" he said in a mix of Mandarin and English. "It's difficult for the next generation to continue in this business if there's no help from the government."
Mah Bow Tan, the minister for national development, recently announced government plans to allocate more land for intensive farming in a country better known for banking, shopping malls, electronics and pharmaceuticals.
The established strategy of securing the city-state's food supply by keeping a rice stockpile, maintaining a small agricultural sector and diversifying import sources has worked well, Mah explained.
However, soaring food prices amid a global supply crunch in 2008, when inflation hit 28-year highs, highlighted the need to find new ways of reducing Singapore's dependence on food imports.
Food prices have since stabilised but will remain high going forward, said Mah, who added that local farming can serve as a "strategic stockpile".