EATING SAFELY, LIVING WELL
Singapore is heavily dependent on food imports from all
over the world, as only a small amount of food is produced
locally. Maintaining stringent food safety standards is
critical to upholding a high quality living environment
in Singapore. MND, through the Agri-Food & Veterinary
Authority (AVA), ensures the safety and resilience of our
food supply. We also safeguard the health of animals and
plants through a science-based, riskmanagement system
that utilises advanced technology in agriculture, fisheries,
veterinary science, and the life sciences.
Maintaining Food Supply Resilience
AVA adopts a diversification strategy to bring
food in from as many sources as possible.
Together with members from our Agri-
Food Business Clusters, we jointly organise
trade missions to explore new sources and
investment opportunities in food production
for local importers. For example, Indonesia
is an ideal choice to source for vegetables
due to its close proximity and fertile volcanic
soil, which is excellent for vegetable farming.
AVA continues to work closely with relevant
stakeholders to develop Indonesia as a
sustainable supply source for Singapore.
Source Diversification and
Local Production
In December 2009, to further strengthen
Singapore’s food supply resilience, AVA
introduced the Food Fund to support
food diversification and food capability
development. Since then, $6 million has
been awarded to the first tranche of 15
projects approved by AVA. The scheme was
well received and another $10 million has
been committed to the second phase.
We also co-fund feasibility studies on
investments in overseas food zones,
overseas contract farming, and the sourcing
of food items from places that are not
already major exporters to Singapore.
Local farming complements our source
diversification strategy to ensure a degree
of self-sufficiency in key food items such as
eggs, fish and leafy vegetables. Currently,
our farms produce seven per cent of the
vegetables, seven per cent of the fish,
and 22 per cent of the eggs consumed in
Singapore. We aim to raise sufficiency in
these products to 10 per cent, 15 per cent,
and 30 per cent, respectively.
AVA’s Food Fund supports local farms by
co-funding research and development (R&D)
on local food farming technology and the
upgrading of production capabilities. In
addition, by sharing our research expertise,
we help local farms maximise limited
resources and raise their productivity.
Our support to the farms also includes
encouraging consumers to buy local produce
by raising public awareness of the food.
We also educate consumers on alternative
food products through outreach events. For
example, consumers learn about the use of
egg powder and liquid egg as alternatives to
shell eggs. Our public education programme
also encourages consumers to use frozen
meat as a value-for-money alternative to
chilled meat.
09
An Endearing Home,
A Distinctive Global City
