Covid-19 Impact: Singapore to fund rooftop farms to increase food security

Singapore which has 5.7 million people crammed into a tiny space of 720 square kilometres, currently produces only 10 per cent of its food requirements.

By EurAsian Times Desk
June 8, 2020

Excerpt:

EGC started by helping restaurants build small farms to supply fresh produce for their kitchens. It has now over 200 farms of various sizes including one for “Farm to Beauty” a skincare company that is creating products out of organic herbs and plants grown on top of the popular downtown mall and hotel complex, Raffles City. It has also developed a small rooftop farm for NOKA, a Japanese restaurant in Funan Mall which is close to Clarke Quay.

ComCrop has full fledge farms with a total area of 3,500 square metres on rooftops in Woodlands which is a suburban area in the outskirts of the city and also a smaller 600 square metre farm on top of SCAPE which is a mall in the famous Orchard Road shopping belt. The latter farm grows leafy greens and herbs such as basil and peppermint that is supplied to nearby restaurants and shops.

Most of these rooftop farms make use of vertical racks to save space, uses hydroponics or aquaponics technology, and at the same time are pesticide-free. Plants grown using hydroponics or aquaponics do not require soil.

Next time you are in Singapore, look up at the top of the buildings surrounding you. If you spot plenty of greenery on the roof, there could well be the site of a farm.

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