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Following the devastating floods in Malaysia, Singaporeans are urged to support local produce as vegetable farms in the neighbouring country are affected.

M'sia floods

According to The Star, Lim Ser Kwee, President of the Federation of Vegetable Farmers Associations in Malaysia, said that over 1,000 tonnes of vegetables at farms in the southern peninsula were damaged after sudden and continuous heavy rains.

Losses are estimated to amount to "tens of millions of ringgit".

Floods affected Johor as well, and farmers in the state reported that the water pumps they had installed on the riverbanks were swept away, and their machinery submerged.

Lim added that the floods have wreaked havoc for the farmers, affecting transport vehicles entering the farms, which caused a supply chaos in the vegetable wholesale market.

The farmers were also unable to salvage their pesticides and fertilisers, incurring greater losses.

Additionally, Chay Ee Mong, the Federation's secretary-general, warned of a potential price hike should the weather pattern continue to be unstable.

"We will likely feel its impact"

Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu addressed the Malaysia floods and acknowledged that vegetable prices there might rise, and "we will likely feel its impact".

In a Mar. 5 Facebook post, she shared that the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment (MSE) has been coordinating with the agri-food industry to increase local production.

However, she shared that consumers can also play an important role by buying local produce.

"This keeps our local farms in business and encourages them to produce more, which mitigates the impact of future supply shocks."

Fu encouraged Singaporeans to support local produce as much as possible, and "not only when there are price hikes for imports".

Singapore's goal to improve food resilience and produce 30 per cent of its own food by 2030 has seen it ramp local food production.

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