by Marie Kauna – EMTV Online, Port Moresby
Singapore is a densely populated island city state.
Currently, the population is 5 million people and is projected will increase to 6.9 million citizens by 2030.
Due to its land mass, which is 71,400 hectares, Singapore has utilised all available land, and converted it into urban development.
This sees little land available for agricultural activities thus contributes to the city’s heavy reliance on imported food.
And Singapore relies heavily on imported food to cater for its growing population.
Now with its population growing plus rising prices of goods and services, this will be a costly exercise in the coming years.
The island state is now implementing Edible Garden City’s grow-your-own-food project, a project that allows use of vacant land turned into food gardens.
So far, more than 50 food gardens have been designed and built for restaurants, hotels, schools, office buildings and private residential homes.
“We have designed and built over 50 beautiful and productive food gardens in tropical Singapore for our clients: restaurants, schools, hotels, and residences. Our goal is to help cities become more self-sufficient by growing food in under-utilised spaces like rooftops, under viaducts, and everywhere in between,” the website stated.
This is one approach Singapore is taking to help reduce its dependency on imported food. All government agencies are now considering the approach and plan to have all vacant land around the city, turned into food gardens.
Image Source: Edible Garden City
