Local produce benefits S’pore in more ways than one
It is heartening to see Singapore making strides in agriculture, enabling food security for ourselves while funding the development of new technologies in the field (“Local farms urged to ‘embrace technology’ to increase food supply”: Nov 3).
The push for local produce benefits us in various ways. Additional food security is important, as most of our food resources are imported.
Other benefits include a decrease in greenhouse gas emissions generated, as the distance travelled to deliver local produce to our markets is reduced significantly. With less time spent on transport, fresher produce is available.
Subsequently, fewer materials are necessary for processing and packaging, and so less waste is produced. Also, with increased development, organic produce could be available more readily.
The benefits of incentivising new technologies in agriculture may also promote innovation that could be used in other fields.
This could be similar to how the United States’ National Aeronautics and Space Administration research has been credited with advances in the medical field as well as transport.
Buying local enables profits to go to local businesses, and more money is put back into our economy.
To truly reap these benefits, an additional push for consumers to buy local is required. It is possible; various “buy local” campaigns elsewhere, such as in Utah, have been successful.
It must be noted, however, that with Singapore’s limited size, only so much land can be allocated to farming. And with our changing landscape, it is important to be able to redevelop our land to keep up.
Still, the use of land for farming can be fully justified by developing our agricultural sector to maximise its land use.
Given the additional food security and economic and environmental benefits of local produce, we should be making advances in agriculture, and I am heartened by our Government’s actions to achieve this.
