Singapore aims to increase its own food production by growing vegetables on top of office buildings. It also has set up tiered fish farms and is using laboratories to grow shrimp, a popular treat. That way, the island nation will not have to depend as much on imports to feed its 5.6 million people.
Singapore produces about 10% of its food. But as climate change and population growth threaten food supplies, it wants to raise that to 30% by the year 2030, under a plan known as ‘30-by-30’.
The problem is space.
Singapore is a small country, with only 724 square kilometers of land. Only one percent of that land area is used for agriculture. Food production costs are higher there than in the rest of Southeast Asia. The pressure is on new farmers to answer the government’s call to “grow more with less.”