SINGAPORE (Reuters) -Singapore has ditched a plan to raise its food self-sufficiency rate to 30% by 2030, Sustainability and Environment Minister Grace Fu said on Tuesday, with local production held back by land constraints as well as high labour and energy costs.
The Southeast Asian city-state launched the “30-by-30” policy in 2019 in a bid to ease its vulnerability to food supply disruptions.
“We acknowledged that this was a challenging aspiration given our small and undeveloped agri-food sector, our limited land resources and high-operating-cost environment,” Fu told an industry conference.
“Drawing from our experience over the past five years, we have reassessed our local production strategy to be more targeted,” she said.
Fu said Singapore had managed to bring self-sufficiency rates for hen eggs and beansprouts to 30% and 50% respectively from 2019 to 2024, and overall food productivity had improved over the period.
However, rising costs and financing challenges have delayed new farm development, and the efforts to scale up the local alternative protein industry have also been held back by higher production costs and weaker-than-expected consumer acceptance, she said.
Singapore will work to complement local production with other strategies to strengthen its resilience, she said, adding that it would continue to boost stockpiles, diversify import sources and secure partnerships with supplier nations.
(Reporting by Xinghui Kok; Writing by David StanwayEditing by Gareth Jones)
