Why we should worry about Singapore’s heavy dependency on food supply

Op-Ed piece written for 2019 Influence & Impact in Public Relations assignment.

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Why we should worry about Singapore’s heavy dependency on food supply

We need to start talking more about our food.

Not about how tasty it is. Not about how trendy nor how instagram-worthy the aesthetic photos will look on our feed.

There is a dire need for the people to take notice on the issue of our food supply and what may disrupt it that would cause major setbacks to Singapore.

Today, Singapore majorly relies on food import, reportedly from 170 countries, according to the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA), for our food supply across the nation. This number has been increasing over the past decade. The percentage of food needed to feed Singapore’s population that originates from overseas comes at a whopping 90 per cent. Despite being one of the countries with top food security, debates have been brought up on whether Singapore is able to withstand disturbances to its food supplies. In fact, we fare pretty poorly in the Rice Bowl Index, which measures the “robustness” of countries’ food security, due to the lack of local production of agricultural products.

And we have experienced the impacts of this seemingly limited self-dependency to our overall food supply. One being the 2007 and 2008 global crisis when food prices surged 12.1 percent and another in 2014, when our import of eggs from Malaysia was halted temporarily due to a bacterium found that causes food poisoning.

I realise that Singapore becomes vulnerable when it is exposed to food disruptions, such as

global price and supply fluctuations. And this, coupled with population growth, climate change and many other global driving factors, it puts our food security to a challenge on its resilience. Given how the world is inter-connected these days, more attention needs to be put on our food industry’s fair trade and commerce between countries.

The newly formed Singapore Food Agency (SFA), which officially commences its board on 1st April 2019 works to improve on our food resilience, security and safety. The fact that this agency is built shows that the looming threats are only getting bigger and there needs to be counter-measures through development and reviewing our efforts to ensure the Republic’s food sources.

But of course, none of these measures implemented would be worthwhile if us, as citizens, do not participate. And that includes myself. I am also guilty of unconsciously dismissing the risks to our food supply. Like most of us, the worry that I may not be able to eat my next meal is minimal. We have to admit that this has made us comfortable - albeit too comfortable - and we are more concerned about which cafe or restaurant we need to head to next to get that insta-worthy pictures.

We can start simple: through minimising food wastage. This issue comes hand in hand with food insecurity. Unfortunately, we have let ourselves get indulged in the tendency to waste food, which leads back to the security of our food. And this is why we need to better understand the consequences that we are risking if we remain oblivious.

We only need to start small. Then better self-dependency may not be impossible after all.