Food scarcity in Singapore

● Singapore ranked as 11th most liveable city

in Asia Pacific.
● Although, Singapore imports more than 90
percent of its food, according to the
Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of
Singapore (AVA) website. Only a small
amount is produced locally - 8 percent of
vegetables, 8 percent of fish and 26 percent
of eggs.
● But the report noted that Singapore's food
security is the most susceptible to climate
and natural resource risks, with the
import-dependent country facing potential
disruptions to its food supply.
● E.g : global food crisis in 2007 and 2008.
History
● Agriculture in Singapore became heavily reduced as early as 1987. In that year, there were officially
2,075 farms in the country, covering an area of 2,037 hectares (5,030 acres), an average of less
than 1 hectare (2.5 acres) per farm.
● Before modernised development, Orchard Road was a stretch of agricultural orchards. As with many
other areas, the farms there soon began to disappear, and Singapore became more reliant on
overseas imports.

Agricultural land (% of land area) in Singapore was reported at 0.93089 % in 2014, according to the Orchard road in Singapore in 1900
World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources.
Orchard road now

Orchard Road got its name from the nutmeg, pepper and fruit orchards or the plantations that the road
once led to.
 Reason behind food scarcity in Singapore
● Population density ● Growing tourism

Singapore is the world's third most densely
populated place with 18,513 people per square
mile (7,148 per square kilometer).
It attracts 17.4 million international tourists in
2017, more than 3 times of Singapore's total
population. Tourism industry spending in
2018($ 27.1 billion spent overall) and 9 % on
food and beverages.

Tourists Total Percentage of

Year
arrival population tourist
2010 11641700 5131172 226.9
2011 13171303 5263636 250.2
2012 14496091 5369476 270
2013 15567923 5453737 285.5
2014 15095152 5525626 273.2
2015 15231469 5592152 272.4
2016 16402593 5653634 290.1
2017 17422826 5708041 305.2
2018 18506619 5131172 360.7
 Shortage of land for farming
● Singapore has been reclaiming land for decades, but that is increasingly unsustainable
due to rising sea levels and other impacts of climate change. So the city is going
underground or vertically.

Since the first reclamation works began in 1822, Singapore’s land area has expanded by almost 25 percent from 58,150 to 71,910 hectares.
The areas shaded in pink indicate how much has been reclaimed thus far. The areas in red show possible plans for future reclamation and
indicate how much of the island’s original coastline may change by 2030 if these plans come to fruition. Map source:
https://blogs.ntu.edu.sg/hp331-2014-10/?page_id=7
Food wastage
References

● https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xi6r3hZe5Tg
● https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/big-read-far-peoples-minds-food-security-looming
-issue
● https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/singapore-tops-global-index-for-food-security
● https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/visitor-arrivals-to-singapore-rise-6-2-t
o-hit-new-high-in-2018-11237564

Ecology and Environment

Assignment
Submitted by:
Sonal ( 2015BARC045)
Gaurav ( 2015BARC035)