Debated in Parliament on 15 Oct 2024.
Mr Zhulkarnain Abdul Rahim asked the Minister for Sustainability and the Environment whether the Singapore Food Agency will implement more measures to improve the business viability of our farms in Lim Chu Kang, Neo Tiew and Kranji by working together with other agencies to (i) support more farmers’ markets in the heartlands and (ii) increase visitation and footfall to farms by improving or subsidising transport connectivity.
Since its formation, the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) has partnered local farms in various areas to improve their business viability. This includes efforts to increase demand offtake for local produce.
With SFA’s support, the Singapore Agro-Food Enterprises Federation Limited (SAFEF) has been organising “SG Farmers’ Market” (SGFM) three times a year, where local farms showcase their freshly harvested produce at various heartland malls and locations across Singapore. To help farmers expand their distribution channels further, in 2020, SAFEF brought SGFM online by creating a one-stop e-SGFM page on Lazada RedMart. Such efforts seek to bring local produce from our farms directly to consumers in the heartlands. There are currently no plans to provide subsidised transportation for consumers to travel to farms.
SFA will continue to work with SAFEF to explore impactful initiatives to scale demand offtake for local produce.
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