Geography Project 9,10: 2009

The Broad Question

The Broad Question:

Can Singapore be self-sufficient with the help of high-tech farming?

Singapore can only be self-sufficient with the help of high-tech farming if all the challenges facing high-tech farming are overcame. For example, if the imported fruits and vegetables are cheaper than fruits and vegetables produced from high-tech farming, most of the consumers will buy the imported ones. In this case, Singapore will be forever depending on imported fruits and vegetables. To overcome this challenges, we must think of ways to make the fruits and vegetables produced from high-tech farming must be cheaper than the imported fruits and vegetables and one way is to use cheaper inputs. In the past, land is scarce in Singapore, so we had to depend on imported products since high-tech farming is not introduced yet. Today, with advanced technology, even with limited land, Singapore can still set up many high-tech farms. With all these high-tech farms, the amount of outputs will largely increase and slowly, we do not need to depend on imported fruits and vegetables, provided that the challenges are overcame. High-tech farming produces high-quality and high-quantity outputs and it is also environmentally friendly and it does not need large amount of land, it is the most suitable type of farming for Singapore to be self-sufficient.

Impact on the environment

-Less fertilizers and pesticides used

-More land and water resources conserved

-Less fuel used because crops need not be transported over long distances

-Overproduction and wastage of resources minimized

To summaries, High-tech farming in Singapore is Environmentally Friendly.

Challenges facing high-tech farming

-High cost of setting up (High-tech farming)

Since the cost of setting up high-tech farming is high, the government should try to reduce the tax that the farmers are paying and providing more support for the farmers.

-Shortage of trained workers

The workers should be sent for training and the government should pay for their training fee as the workers are very poor.

-Competition from cheaper imports

Farmers can use cheaper inputs for high-tech farming, thus, the products can be sold at a cheaper price.

Benefits of high-tech farming in Singapore

-Releases farmland for other uses:

As land is limited in Singapore, using the traditional way of farming to farm is not possible anymore. Using high-tech farming can save a lot of land for other purposes.

-Higher harvests and income

Today, by using high-tech farming methods, not only the products are of high-quality, but their prices are also reasonable. The farmers will be getting a higher income if their vegetables have higher sales.

-More vegetables consumed by Singaporeans grown locally

When more vegetables consumed by Singaporeans are grown locally, the dependence on imports will decrease and Singapore will increase self-sufficiency.

High-tech farming in Singapore

High tech farming is a plausible alternative food source for Singapore but it is not possible to rely entirely on it. Singapore's small land size makes it difficult to accommodate large areas of land for farming, even for high tech farming, which requires less land area. Since 1986, today, over 200 farms in over six Agrotechnology Parks all are " Hi-TECH " ,some products are milk,vegetables, fish, eggs, fruits. These products can be bought from supermarkets in Singapore.