A review of Singapore’s target to produce 30 per cent of its nutritional needs locally by 2030 is underway, confirmed senior minister of state for sustainability and the environment Koh Poh Koon on Tuesday.
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The republic is reviewing its food security strategy to better tackle productivity, cost and demand challenges, as well as to foster the sector’s continued growth, said Koh. He had first suggested that a review of the “30 by 30” goal was imminent in an interview with local Chinese daily Lianhe Zaobao last May, amid high-profile farms – including government grant recipients – closing shop.
The government “will share more details after [its] review”, said Koh during the annual debate on his ministry’s budget, though he did not mention when these updates could be expected.
Koh, who was responding to a parliamentary question about the city-state’s progress on its food security target, characterised the “30 by 30” vision as “aspirational” when it was first announced in 2019. “The agri-food business climate then was more benign, with stronger investor interests, lower interest rates and lower energy prices,” he said.
“Now, the global food industry outlook has become less favourable with dwindling investments in food technology and alternative proteins, and geopolitical tensions exacerbating uncertainties around energy costs.”
In his speech, Koh acknowledged the “inherent structural challenges” – which include a tight labour force, exacerbated by strong price competition from imported produce – that continue to plague local farms in the early stages before their production facilities achieve sufficient scale.
“For our farms to scale, we need to help them improve productivity and lower costs, while increasing consumer demand for local produce,” he said.
Given its land constraints, Singapore introduced a S$60 million (US$44.7 million) Agri-Cluster Transformation (ACT) fund in its 2021 budget to help farmers adopt productivity-enhancing technologies. As of end-2024, the ACT fund has supported small-scale trials to larger commercial systems with over S$28 million (US$20.9 million) awarded to 43 companies, such as indoor fish farm Blue Ocean Aquaculture Technology and vegetable farm Yili Farm.
In 2020, the government also announced its intention to transform one of the last major agricultural estates in Lim Chu Kang into a “high-tech, highly productive and resource-efficient agri-food cluster”. However, two large-scale projects to develop the area into a high-tech agricultural hub – meant to commence last year – have been delayed, according to local media.
Despite the tech-enabled productivity push in recent years, Singapore’s food self-production has remained below 10 per cent. Koh, however, shared that certain food types have shown early successes, such as hen eggs and bean sprouts, which now contribute to 30 per cent and 50 per cent of local consumption respectively.
Opposition Workers’ Party member Dennis Tan suggested that high-tech solutions, which the government has prioritised, could be supplemented by “low-tech sustainable farming practices” to enhance climate resilience and yield.
Other climate-related plans unveiled at the Committee of Supply 2025 debates:
- A coastal protection bill in the second half of 2025, after consulting relevant stakeholders.
- Two site-specific studies on Sentosa Island and the nation’s south-west coast for coastal protection from rising seas to start by 2026. Singapore-wide coastal protection plans will be funded from the government’s annual budget, a coastal and flood protection fund which will receive a S$5 billion (US$3.7 billion) top-up. Where eligible, such as for land reclamation, it will also use past reserves.
- A S$25 million (US$18.6 million) weather science research programme to enhance Singapore’s ability to understand and predict tropical urban weather, including extreme weather arising from climate change.
- Plans to study solutions to capture carbon emissions at waste-to-energy plants, with a pilot project to be launched by 2026 to validate such carbon capture technologies, such as amine-based absorption.
- A S$300 million (US$223.7 million) energy efficiency fund for public sector buildings, which will be disbursed to “worthwhile projects” over the next five years.
Permaculture, which mimics the natural ecosystem by fostering synergies between crops and animals, could be a “valuable low-tech complement” for Singapore’s fish farms, through the use of aquatic plants to provide shade and cooling while stabilising water temperatures, which is crucial in hotter months as warmer water holds less dissolved oxygen, said Tan.
However, Koh responded that permaculture “tends to require extensive land space which might not be as well-suited for local production in Singapore.”
“Nonetheless, farms should assess the farming methods and solutions most appropriate for their operating model and constraints, accounting for the needs to be commercially viable, climate-resilient and resource-efficient,” he said.
Koh also shared that since the launch of a collective model to aggregate the supply and demand of local produce by the Singapore Agro-Food Enterprises Federation (SAFEF) last May at Singapore’s largest supermarket chain Fairprice, sales have increased about five-fold for locally-grown xiao bai cai, a form of Asian leafy green, and two-fold for processed local fish products.
SAFEF’s collectively grown vegetables will be available at competing supermarket operator Sheng Siong starting this month, he said.
Eco-Business conducted a dozen interviews with local farmers and food sustainability experts in 2024 and published a special report “Sowing the Impossible?” asking if it is time Singapore reviewed its “30 by 30” food production goal. Read the full report here.
