In order to achieve 30%of agricultural products self -sufficient, Singapore encourages farmers to grow vegetables in a three -dimensional garage

Polar News reporter Manda

Intern Wei Yingjie

The land area is only 728.6 square kilometers, but it has 5.5 million people. There are currently less than 1%of the food for people who use less than 1%of the food, and the remaining 90%can only be solved by imports.

In this regard, the Singapore government announced in early 2019 that the "30 · 30" vision, that is, to ensure that the agricultural products produced in Singapore can meet the needs of 30 % of the country by 2030.

In order to improve the output of agricultural products such as vegetables in China, some farm owners choose to open farms on roofs such as three -dimensional parking lots in the city, which can be more than 400 kilograms of vegetables. According to the BBC recently reported, in this urban country in Southeast Asia, there are already more than 10 such roof farms.

400 kg of Nissan vegetables on the roof farm

The farm operated by Ms. Wu is located on the top floor of a three -dimensional parking lot in Singapore with an area of ​​about one -third of the football field.

Ms. Wu on her roof farm (picture source: BBC)

"Singapore is very small and the land is very expensive. There is a piece of land here to grow vegetables. Fortunately, we have many three -dimensional parking lots." Ms. Wu said that her farm can provide up to 400 retailers every day. Fresh vegetables.

In this urban country in Southeast Asia, there are at least 10 such roof farms. This country with a population of 5.5 million, 90%of foods rely on imports.

In order to increase the output of local agricultural products, the government has been rented to the roof for farm vegetables from 2020.

When the BBC reporter visited Ms. Wu's farm, the workers were picking, trimming and packaging cabbage. On the other side of the planting equipment, workers are busy planting seedlings.

Some government subsidies are still not profitable

Ms. Wu introduced that the cost of opening farms was about S $ 1 million (about 4.92 million yuan), most of which were spent on purchasing planting equipment.

Ms. Wu told reporters that although she was subsidized by the government, she was not profitable as a whole.

She has 10 employees who spend 90,000 yuan a year to rent this farm and the roof of another parking lot, where the farm is still under construction.

Workers on the roof farm are working (picture source: BBC)

"The starting period of our farm is in the epidemic stage, so the logistics part has more money and time than normal." Ms. Wu explained that the parking lot used in this farm was the first roof farm for the government bidding. , So lack of business experience, the whole process is more strange to her.

In addition to planting vegetables directly, the owner of the roof farm is also trying other ways to make money.

Another farmer Mr. Wu told reporters that he leased the farm to private planting vegetables and charged monthly rent every month. He told reporters that this method is particularly welcomed by families near the farm.

However, another urban farmer Mr. Li told reporters that the high cost of land rent "dismissed" him to an industrial building with a very low rent. "In the final analysis, vegetables are just vegetables. Unlike truffle, even if the vegetables you sell may be the freshest and best, it can only sell that price." He told reporters.

Vegetable dependencies are easy to fluctuate

Little love (pseudonym) from Karamay, Xinjiang is a Chinese student studying in a university in Singapore. Earlier, she lived in Singapore and currently returned to China temporarily.

She told Jimu Journalists that she had seen the roof farm when she was in Singapore. "Singapore is too small, and it is hard to find a place to grow vegetables." Xiao Ai introduced that most of Singapore's vegetables depend on imports. She often sees vegetables from Guangdong in the supermarket. There are vegetables from Malaysia, Japan, and South Korea. Because excessive dependence on imports, the price of vegetables in the Singapore market is not very stable. Therefore, some local residents in Singapore have grown vegetables at home and are self -sufficient.

Xiaoai rented an apartment near the school, and daily meals were solved by takeaway. She told reporters that people in Singapore often eat in the food pavilion. If they don't want to cook, it is the most money -saving way to fill the stomach. The food pavilion is a bit similar to the semi -outdoor canteen, which contains many different shops, complete dishes, such as a copy of Hainan chicken rice (about 25 yuan).

Xiaoai lives with a kitchen. If she wants to eat Chinese food, she will go to the supermarket to buy food. She often goes to the supermarket on weekends, buying a cauliflower about S $ 150 (about 738 yuan), and one person can eat for five days.

Local vegetables sold by Singapore Supermarket (Picture Source: Lianhe Zaobao)

"Basically, vegetables sold in China can be bought in Singapore, like ordinary vegetable hearts, Shanghai green, Chinese cabbage, and leeks and artemisia. Generally, they are sold in supermarkets. It is also ranging from S $ 3 to 4 per kilogram (about 15 yuan). Stir -fried vegetables at home are much cheaper than Chinese restaurants outside. Those Chinese restaurants, ordinary plates of fried spinach are 10 S $ 10 (approximately about Together 50 yuan) go up. "Xiaoai said.

Jimu reporters noticed that at the end of last month, Singapore's "Lianhe Zaobao" reported that although Malaysia's leafy harvest was harvested, but due to local continuous rainstorms, the wholesale price rebounded.

Chen Chunfa, deputy general manager of the Singapore Fruit and Vegetables, said in an interview with Lianhe Zaobao that broccoli and cabbage imported from Australia were affected by heavy rain and human shortage, and the prices of vegetables imported from China were relatively stable. Malaysia's gold Malaysia's manpower shortage will not only cause production reduction, but also due to the lack of people to pick up the leaves and affect the quality of exported vegetables. There are still difficulties to develop urban agriculture to be solved

According to reports, 90%of the foods required by Singaporean are currently imported from more than 170 countries and regions. The goal of Singapore is to produce 30%of the food required by the country by 2030, which is three times the current output.

The way Singapore increasing food production is not just the "roof farm".

Another roof farm in Singapore (picture source: BBC)

Most of the native agricultural products in this country are attributed to high -tech facilities for the government's strong subsidies. Official statistics show that in 2020, Singapore has 238 licensed farms.

The Singapore Food Bureau said that some farms have been profitable and can increase profitability by expanding production scale.

"For Singapore, food security is a vital issue. As a small international city country with limited resources, Singapore is easily affected by factors such as external impact and supply chain interruption." A spokesman for the Singapore Food Bureau told that the spokesman for the Food Bureau of Singapore told BBC reporter, this is why they keep working hard to ensure the supply of basic resource supply.

Earlier this year, when several countries restricted the exit of key foods, the problem of food security became the focus of Singapore. The Singaporean government that relies on food imports tries to protect the food supply of their country. Because of the influence of the Russian and Ukraine War and epidemic, the costs of all products such as staple foods to crude oil have risen.

Professor Chen, director of food science and technology projects in Nanyang University of Technology in Singapore, said that the country should give more support to urban farms. At present, the Singapore Food Bureau provides production subsidies, and there are regular farmers markets opened to encourage domestic consumers to purchase their products. "Maybe we can consider providing some simple technologies for local farmers to help them." Professor Chen said.

Sona Akst, assistant professor of Li Guangyao School of Public Policy, believes that high operating costs are the main challenges facing urban farmers.

"The Singapore government provides a lot of financial support and subsidies for corporates on roof farms." She said, "However, when the government stops financial support for these farms, whether these farms can still run normally and their operations are operating Is it still business feasibility? "

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