HIGH-TECH FARMING IN SINGAPORE

Abstract

With the continual shrinkage of agricultural land, it is evident that to maintain the existing levels of production, conventional production methods will have to be substituted by more efficient and productive methods. In this context, agro technology seems to have offered the solution - the 500 or so high-tech farms that will replace the existing conventional farms by 1995 are projected to provide the island with the same, if not a greater degree of self-sufficiency in primary produce. Although Singapore can never be expected to do away with the need to import her food, it is nevertheless imperative to maintain some levels of self-sufficiency. For while pure economic rationale simply does not permit the continual existence of farming activities on the small island, the strategic importance of not being totally dependent on others for food should not be undermined. History has been littered with too many examples of food being used as a political weapon in times of conflict and crisis that one should learn to better appreciate the need for domestic sources of food. Furthermore, the other potential benefits of exploiting agro technology should not be brushed aside. Besides providing basic foodstuff, these high-tech farms will also serve as centres for tropical agro technology R & D purposes. Singapore may lack a strong agricultural tradition, but this does not prevent it from venturing into the relatively new area of scientific agriculture and possibly to make contributions that can be put to good agricultural use. For one thing, it may increase the island's self-sufficiency level. For another, at a later stage, potentially lucrative export markets of this region can be developed for such discoveries.