When Singapore was founded, it had a population of less than 2 million. Its land area was 581.5 square kilometers, and nearly 20% of that was devoted to farming. Today, Singapore covers 735 square kilometers, less than three times the size of Taipei City. Yet, the government must feed 6.04 million residents and provide for nearly 20 million visitors each year, all with farmland that makes up less than 1% of the country’s total land area—only 7.4 square kilometers, roughly equivalent to the size of Zhongzheng District in Taipei City. This is a formidable challenge.

In response to global population growth, climate change, and political factors affecting international trade, Singapore’s government consolidated relevant agencies to create the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) in July 2018. The goal was to improve food security and increase self-sufficiency. The government set a national target, the “30 by 30 Vision”, which aims to produce 30% of Singapore’s nutritional needs locally by 2030.

SFA introduced a “three-plus-one” strategy to strengthen food security. This includes three “food basket” strategies for securing food supply and one for supporting domestic production:

1. Diversify food import sources to reduce reliance on a single overseas source.
2. Increase domestic food production to cushion the impact of disruptions in global food supply.
3. Support local companies in expanding overseas to create more international food production bases and stabilise the food supply to Singapore.
4. Support domestically produced food to enhance food security, stimulate the local economy, ensure food safety, and protect the environment.

According to data released by the SFA in May 2024, over 90% of Singapore’s food is imported from 187 countries, and the country’s food self-sufficiency rate is still below 10%. In 2023, locally produced eggs accounted for just 31.9% of total demand (an increase of 3% from the previous year), vegetables made up 3.2% (a decrease of 0.7% from the previous year), and seafood contributed 7.3% (down 0.3% from the previous year). This highlights how challenging it has been to increase self-sufficiency in food.

To address these challenges, the Singapore government has worked with food importers to diversify supply sources. In 2004, food was imported from 140 countries; by 2023, that number had risen to 187. For example, eggs are imported from 19 countries, poultry from 30 countries, pork from 32, beef from 20, and mutton from 15. The government also increased certification of import sources and requires domestic importers to have a business continuity plan to ensure the resilience of overseas food supply chains, allowing for the quick identification of alternative sources if disruptions occur.

However, food imports and the development of overseas food production bases are subject to political considerations. Exporting countries may impose restrictions on food exports because of domestic reasons or otherwise. Additionally, global food supply can be impacted by pandemics and regional conflicts. Despite Singapore’s signing of bilateral food supply agreements with over 20 countries, these agreements had proved difficult to implement during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As a result, the Singapore government recognises the importance of developing local agriculture to ensure food security. With just 1% of its land dedicated to food production, Singapore must build resilience in three areas—climate, resources, and the economy—while utilising advanced technology and innovation to significantly increase agricultural productivity. To this end, the government allocates substantial funding to research and development in agricultural technology through programs such as the Agri-food Cluster Transformation (ACT) Fund and the National Research Foundation.

Starting in 2024, SFA plans to transform Lim Chu Kang farmland in the country’s northwest into a high-tech agricultural innovation park to support the 30 by 30 Vision. Notably, the government is actively introducing indoor farming technology. Recently, Taiwan’s Yuantong Green Energy Technology Co. (元通綠能科技公司)has acquired 2 hectares of land to build a vertical farming plant, which is expected to produce 4,000 tons of organic vegetables by July 2025—about 10% of Singapore’s national demand.

To mitigate the risk of food supply interruptions, the most common strategy is to maintain emergency food reserves. Singapore has put in place a Rice Stockpile Scheme. Imported white rice is stored in government-run warehouses, and rice importers must bring in at least 50 tons of rice per month and keep a minimum inventory of 100 tons. Larger rice importers are permitted to store rice in their own warehouses, but they are required to hold additional reserves: for every ton of rice imported, they must store 2.5 tons of reserve rice for wartime purposes. This will be increased to 3 tons in the coming months and 3.5 tons by May next year. All stored rice must also be within their shelf life. The government provides subsidies to help importers maintain these stocks, but repeated violations can result in criminal prosecution.

The Singapore Parliament is currently reviewing the Food Safety and Security Bill. If passed, the Bill will grant SFA the authority to enforce minimum inventory requirements and extend the war reserve grain system to key food operators and animal feed suppliers, with stricter penalties for non-compliance.

Advancements in digital technology and logistics may change food stockpiling practices, reducing the government’s direct procurement and management costs while maintaining food security. For example, Oceanus, a Singapore-based food trade company, is building an international food trading platform called ODIN, that integrates financing, logistics, and sales and marketing. This platform could facilitate global food distribution, and even sell to governments.

多元戰略與數位科技 確保新加坡糧食安全

童振源代表, 駐新加坡台北代表處

Original article: Read More Here

新加坡以1%的土地，要養活604萬人口及提供約2,000萬訪客的糧食需求。新加坡政府如何做到？

根據《經濟學人》發布的《全球食品安全指數報告》，以食品價格承受能力、食品供應能力和質量安全保障能力等三大因素為標準，新加坡連續在2018年與2019年兩年位居榜首。疫情發生後，《經濟學人》加入第四項指標：永續與調適，因為新加坡本地農產量不足，2022年新加坡退居到113個調查國家中的第28名。

新加坡建國時，人口不到200萬人，國土面積581.5平方公里，農地面積的比例將近20%。現在新加坡的面積有735平方公里，不到三個台北市大小，卻要以總面積不到1%的國土（7.4平方公里，相當於台北市中正區的面積）養活604萬人口，同時每年提供將近2,000萬名訪客的糧食需求，這是非常艱難的目標。

面對全球人口成長、氣候變遷導及國際貿易政治，新加坡政府在2018年7月整併相關機構成立「食品局」以提高糧食自給率，負責監督新加坡的食品和糧食安全，並且提出2030年能提升糧食自給率達30%的國家目標，是所謂「30．30願景」，即到2030年有能力可持續生產滿足國人30％營養需求的農產品。

新加坡食品局提出三加一的戰略，包括三個「食物籃子」戰略及支持國內生產糧食的措施：

1、    分散糧食進口來源，以降低單一海外糧食供應來源的風險。

2、    增加國內糧食供應，以緩衝海外糧食供應中斷對新加坡糧食供應的衝擊。

3、    幫助國內公司在海外擴張，以增加海外糧食生產基地，進而穩定供應糧食給新加坡。

4、    支持國內生產的糧食，以提升糧食安全，並支持當地經濟、確保食品安全與保護環。

根據新加坡食品局在今（2024）年5月發布的數據，新加坡有90%以上的食品從187個國家進口，新加坡的糧食自給率仍未達到10%。2023年新加坡當地生產的雞蛋僅占總需求的31.9%（比前年增加3個百分點）、蔬菜占3.2%（比前年減少0.7個百分點）、水產占7.3%（比前年減少0.3個百分點）。可見新加坡政府要提高當地糧食自給率不容易。

新加坡政府不斷協助糧食進口商分散進口來源，從2004年的140個國家增加到2023年的187個國家，雞蛋可以從19個國家進口、雞肉30個國家、豬肉32個國家、牛肉20個國家、羊肉15個國家，同時增加進口來源的認證，並要求國內進口商必須有「商業延續計畫」，以建立海外糧食供應體系的韌性，在海外糧食供應中斷時可以立刻找到替代來源。

然而，糧食進口及在海外發展糧食基地，都可能受到國際政治因素的影響，農糧生產國可能因為自身需求或其他政治考量，而採取限制糧食出口政策。此外，國際糧食供應也會受到疫情與區域衝突的衝擊。一家新加坡食品安全公司提到，新加坡與20幾個國家簽訂雙邊糧食供應協議，但在疫情期間，卻難以發揮作用。

因此，新加坡政府認為，發展當地的農業對糧食安全至關重要。在1%的國土耕種面積要提供604萬人口及2,000萬訪客的糧食需求，必須建構抵抗氣候、資源與經濟限制的三種韌性，必須運用先進科技與創新能力，才能大幅提升農業生產力與達成上述三種韌性。因此，新加坡政府透過「農業生產力基金」及「全國研究基金會」提供大量資金進行農業科技研發，以提升新加坡的農業科技與創新能力。

其次，從2024年起，新加坡食品局逐步將西北部的林厝港農地發展為高科技農業食品創新園區，以實現「30．30願景」。特別是，新加坡政府積極引進室內耕種的技術。最近，台灣的元通綠能科技公司獲得2公頃土地建造先進的垂直耕種植物工廠，預計明年七月完工後將提供4,000噸有機蔬菜，相當於新加坡10%的全國需求量。

為了避免糧食供應中斷的風險，建立戰備儲糧是最常見做法。1990年代以來，新加坡已經建立白米庫存計畫，所有進口白米都必須存入政府的四個米倉，白米進口商每月進口至少50公噸白米，並存放至少100公噸白米作為固定庫存。

除了政府米倉之外，目前新加坡政府也特許給幾家大型糧食進口商將白米放在自己的糧倉，但要求每進口一噸白米，便要增加2.5噸的戰備儲糧，下個月要增加到3噸，明年五月要增加到3.5噸，而且糧食需在保存期限，政府會提供進口商適當補助，以增加新加坡的糧食安全係數。但若多次違反規定，進口商可能被新加坡政府以刑法起訴。

目前新加坡國會正在審議《食品安全和保障法案》，如果通過，新加坡食品局可以通過最低庫存要求機制，戰備儲糧制度將擴及到白米以外的關鍵食品業者及農場飼料供應商，並且提高相關刑罰。

當前，數位科技進步與物流平台發展可能會改變傳統的戰備儲糧作法，降低政府的直接採購與管理成本，卻又能維持糧食安全。一家新加坡食品安全公司正在建構一個相當完整的食品交易國際平台，包括融資、物流、銷售與行銷，讓歐定平台（ODIN）成為國際糧食流通中心，並且發售糧食採購選擇權給各國政府。