Advances
in communication technology, transport and in a plethora of other areas have
made the world today more interconnected than ever before. The world economies
are increasingly interdependence through a rapid increase in cross-border
movement of goods and services. As trade barriers are largely alleviated, it
facilitates international trades between nations. Singapore is one of the
top-trading hubs in the world. Its market is highly opened and trade-oriented as
Singapore lacks natural resources to produce goods such as agriculture
products, thus, having to rely on its imports. However, depending on imports
for basic necessities would make us vulnerable to external economies’
happenings. It is important that we promote locally produced goods to strengthened
local economy.
According
to Singstat, Singapore’s international trade expanded in 2012 with imports of
foreign-produced goods increased by 8.2% in 2012. One of the main imports of
Singapore is food including agricultural vegetables and fruits. In his TED
talk, Goldin (2009) mentioned that there is an increasingly complexity as what
happens in one place rapidly affects other things as seen in financial crisis.
Take for instance, the recent economic crisis that has hit hard on America and
Europe indirectly affected Singapore economy, as America and Europe are one of
the top importers of agricultural products to Singapore. Singapore’s trades in
June extended the longest run of declines since the global financial crisis.
The Singapore
government should encourage the consumption of locally grown goods so as to
reduce Singapore’s vulnerability to external threats. Many Singaporeans are
unaware and skeptical of locally harvested agriculture products thus there is a
need to raise awareness of it through fairs and campaigns. For instance, in
Ghana, Melcom Group of Companies has embarked on an initiative to build
consumer confidence in local products by promoting Made-in-Ghana goods. The
‘Made-in-Ghana Festival’ objective was to demonstrate confidence in Ghana’s manufacturing
industry. It showcases achievement in local production and give the consumers a
local quality and value. I feel that Singapore can adopt this solution by
having its own ‘Made-in-Singapore Festival’ to showcase its production. According
to Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA), there is an increase in locally
produced farm goods such as vegetables, fishes and eggs. Its sales of these
locally grown products have gone up by 40% over the past three years. Thus, the
festival can expose to more Singaporeans to the types of goods that are locally
produced.
However,
encouraging consumption of locally produced goods means requiring one to switch
away from foreign imported products. This would take a longer period of time to
achieve as it involves changing individuals’ taste and preferences. One would
not change its consumption habits immediately if he perceived the imported
goods to be superior to locally grown agriculture products. Furthermore, it is
impossible for Singapore to be totally self-reliant, as we have very limited land
space to harvest agriculture products to feed the entire population. Despite
this issue, The Agri-Food &
Veterinary Authority (AVA) has been working on developing vertical systems for
farming vegetables in confined spaces. One such system is the "Veggie
Pipe" which stacks water pipes to house the vegetable. This makes it ideal
for Singapore to minimize usage of land space for growing crops.
Ross (2000) concluded in her research which show that
giving the opportunity to sample and taste local foods at work sites increases
the chance that people will continue to purchase locally produced goods outside
of the workplace as well. In Canada, the community shared agriculture (CSA)
programs were introduced to promote local food; it allows consumers to directly
have share in the local harvest. Singapore
has adopted a similar concept by launching the ‘Cool Ideas on Growing
Vegetables at Home’ campaign. This campaign allows residents on growing
vegetables in HDB estates and the residents play the part in harvesting their
own crops. For example, Yishun Town Garden has become a mini vegetable farm
with the HDB estate; vegetable sprout such as lettuce, spinach, pumpkins and
maize are grown. However, this project is still mainly maintained by the board,
which limits the involvement of the residents. This community involvement
program should provide hands on for the residents to encourage locally produced
farming products.
In conclusion, the increasing interconnectedness of
economies raises the need for one nation to be less dependent on external
economies. However, we cannot block off all imports especially for the case of
Singapore as we lack resources to be self-reliant. I believe that the combination
of effort taken by government, Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) and
community are necessary and effective in promoting locally grown agriculture
products.
(759 words)
References
Curitti, E.
(n.d.). Promoting local food. Retrieved from http://www.projecthealth.ca/files/upload/TK_HE_Rethinking_7_3_9_Promoting_LOCAL_FOOD.pdf
Department of
Statistics Singapore, (2014). Singapore's external trade. Retrieved from
website: http://www.singstat.gov.sg/statistics/browse_by_theme/trade.html
Lim, J. (2010,
December 7). Growing trend of eating local produce in singapore. The Straits
Times. Retrieved from http://wildsingaporenews.blogspot.sg/2010/12/growing-trend-of-eating-local-produce.html
Olivia. (2012,
April 12). Ava introduces new veggie home growing kit. TODAY. Retrieved
from http://sggreendrinks.wordpress.com/2012/04/12/today-ava-introduces-new-veggie-home-growing-kit/
Ross, N. J.
(2000). Increasing purchases of locally grown produce through worksite
sales: An ecological model. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022318200705899
Shamin, A.
(2013, July 17). Singapore exports in longest slump since global crisis. Bloomberg
News. Retrieved from http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-17/singapore-exports-fall-8-8-in-longest-slump-since-global-crisis.html
Yang, M. L.
(1989, February 14). Vegetables sprout in hdb estates. The Straits Times.
Retrieved from http://newspapers.nl.sg/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19890214-1.2.56.aspx
Zeney, G. D.
(2013, October 8). Melcom group of companies has embarked on an initiative
to build consumer confidence in local products by promoting made-in-ghana
goods.. Retrieved from http://www.ghana.gov.gh/index.php/2012-02-08-08-32-47/general-news/3324-melcom-to-promote-made-in-ghana-goods
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