If S'pore’s food imports are disrupted, will we have to settle for chicken rice without chicken?

What if one day, your favourite chicken rice stall stopped serving chicken?

Or if you had to queue at the supermarket every morning for food rations, like how water rationing exercises were done in the past?

Such extreme scenarios, while highly unlikely, stem from a very real fear – that Singapore is heavily reliant on imports for food, and if our food supplies were heavily disrupted – it could be our undoing.

Here's the reality:

Singapore’s reliance on imported food

For a country that loves food so much, we don't grow very much of it ourselves.

Less than 1 per cent of Singapore's limited land area is available for producing food, and over 90 per cent of our food is imported from abroad.

However, the world is changing.

In the post-pandemic era, many countries continue to face increased threats of disruptions to food production and supply, due to climate change, geopolitical tensions, and disease outbreaks.

Such trends, of course, do not bode well for countries like Singapore which are heavily reliant on food imports.

So what might happen if our imports hit a roadblock?

Now Singapore has been dealing with this reality by diversifying its imports (more on that later), but in a hypothetical scenario where our imports were to be heavily disrupted, this is what could happen:

• Prices would go up

When the supply goes down, prices can go up.

In 2022, for example, there was a sharp decrease in the number of fish sighted off Malaysia's waters, and Indonesia's fish supply was also affected by factors like climate change and higher fuel costs.

Resultantly, fish and seafood prices rose by 4.7 per cent over the 6-month period from February 2022 to August 2022, after accounting for seasonal variations.

Around the same period, one user complained on social media about their cai png with fish, from a Singapore hawker centre, costing S$11.

Malaysia's export ban on chicken in June last year, also badly hit chicken rice sellers in Singapore as chicken prices rose by about 10 to 30 per cent.

• Panic buying

And when there are perceived or real food shortages, people might resort to panic buying and hoarding.

In February 2020, when Singapore's Covid alert level was raised to DORSCON Orange, eggs, cooking oil, and other food items flew off the shelves of supermarkets.

This was likely due to fears that Singapore's food supply chain would be disrupted by the worsening pandemic.

This panic buying trend was repeated a month later when Malaysia announced that it would be going into lockdown.

• Finding food alternatives

If imports of certain foods are disrupted, food sellers and home cooks could tackle the situation by finding alternative ingredients to replace them.

Avid fans of chicken rice, for example, might remember frozen or chilled chicken being used in place of fresh chicken in the popular hawker dish around mid-2022. This was after Malaysia announced an export ban on its chicken.

Consumers might also explore alternative dishes, which could become more popular as a result.

In July this year, India experienced its most severe tomato shortage that raised prices by up to five times at its peak, reported The New York Times.

Resultantly, recipes that did not involve the staple ingredient began trending on social media in the country.

Some of these were curries that used potato, yogurt or chickpeas instead.

Diversifying imports

A key strategy that Singapore has to deal with the changing world is to diversify its food imports from different sources.

This means that if imports from one source are disrupted, alternative sources can be tapped on to ensure a stable food supply.

For instance, eggs are imported from neighbouring countries such as Malaysia, and also from countries beyond the region such as Poland, in line with the maxim “don’t put all your eggs in one basket.”

And in response to Malaysia’s export ban on chicken last year, the disruption to Singapore’s chicken supply was similarly minimised by ramping up supply from other sources.

More supplies of chilled chicken from Australia and Thailand were brought in, along with frozen chicken from countries like Brazil and the United States.

And just this year, Singapore began importing live chicken from Indonesia. Prior to this, Malaysia was our only source of live chicken imports.

So it looks like we’ll still get to enjoy our chicken rice in the future – with the chicken we love.

Local production as an insurance policy

Even with diversification, however, relying solely on imports is risky, especially in times of crisis.

That is where local food production comes in – to serve as Singapore’s insurance policy, and a backup source of food.

Helming this task is the Singapore Food Agency (SFA), which has a “30 by 30” vision – to build the capability and capacity of our agri-food industry, such that it can sustainably produce 30 per cent of Singapore’s nutritional needs by 2030.

Given the challenges of climate change and limited land resources in Singapore, SFA has been supporting the transformation of our local agri-food industry into a highly productive, climate-resilient and sustainable one.

For example, funding support has been provided for farms to leverage technology and innovation, improving productivity while reducing resource needs. Examples of these high-tech farms include sustainable fish farms and hydroponic systems.

Apart from improvements in technology, SFA is also optimising land space for food production, such as in the Lim Chu Kang area, where a new agri-food hub is set to be built. Spanning about 390 hectares (3.9 square kilometres) of land, this new hub is envisioned to be the cornerstone of Singapore’s local food production strategy in the future.

Potential ideas for the area include shared facilities such as waste treatment plants or packing facilities to help farms achieve economies of scale, and water, electricity and transport infrastructure to support productive farming.

In mapping out the new hub, considerations include optimising food output, conserving limited resources and protecting the environment.

When redeveloped, the Lim Chu Kang agri-food zone can potentially produce more than three times its current amount of food.

Here's an artist’s impression on what it could look like:

Upcoming exhibition at SAFRA Choa Chu Kang from Sep. 2-6, 2023

Interested to find out more about where your food comes from?

You can learn more about the upcoming Lim Chu Kang agri-food hub and Singapore’s food journey at a free exhibition which will be held at SAFRA Choa Chu Kang from Sep. 2 to 6.

The exhibition, titled “Feeding our Future: Building an Agri-Food Hub for all”, will delve into the vision and challenges for the project. It also showcases design ideas for the new hub at Lim Chu Kang, and Singapore’s food security journey over the years.

Visitors can participate in the Agri-Food Adventure, a scavenger hunt where exciting prizes can be won.

On Sep. 2 and 3, there will also be a Farmers’ Market, where visitors can purchase fresh produce such as vegetables, fish and eggs, all sourced from local farms.

Details of the exhibition are as follows:

Date: Sep. 2-6, 2023 (starts at 12pm on Sep. 2 and closes at 2pm on Sep. 6)

Opening hours: 9am to 8pm

Farmers Market: 9am to 2pm on Sep. 2 and 3

Venue: SAFRA Choa Chu Kang, 28 Choa Chu Kang Dr, Singapore 689964, Level 5

A looped shuttle bus service (Choa Chu Kang MRT, SAFRA CCK and Bukit Panjang MRT) will be available from 8.45am to 8pm on Sep. 2 and 3.

You can also visit the website for more details.

This sponsored article by SFA assured this writer that he will still get to enjoy his chicken rice even if Singapore’s chicken imports are disrupted.

Top image from Edwin Khoo / Facebook.