Essay Draft 3

To what extent should Singapore promote locally produced goods?

Advances in communication technology, in transport and in a plethora of other areas have made the world today more interconnected than ever before. The world economies are increasingly interdependent through a rapid increase in the cross-border movement of goods and services. As trade barriers are largely alleviated, it facilitates international trade between nations. Singapore is one of the top-trading hubs in the world. Its market is highly open and trade-oriented as the country lacks natural resources to produce goods such as agriculture products, thus, having to rely on imports. However, depending on imports for basic necessities makes Singapore vulnerable to external economies’ financial situations. It is important that Singapore promote locally grown products to ensure the economy is self-reliant. To achieve this, it requires combination efforts taken by government, Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) and community in promoting locally grown agriculture products.

According to Singstat, Singapore’s international trade expanded in 2012 with imports of foreign-produced goods increased by 8.2%. 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 increasing complexity as what happens in one place rapidly affects other places as seen in the world financial crisis, which hit hard on America and Europe but indirectly affected the Singapore economy. America and Europe are among the top exporters of agricultural products to Singapore. Singapore’s trade in June 2013 extended the longest run of declines since the global financial crisis.

Singapore’s economic behavior is easily affected by external factors, it is important to minimize the effect through various measures taken by the authorities. The Singapore government should encourage the consumption of locally grown goods so as to reduce Singapore’s vulnerability to external economic factors. Many Singaporeans are unaware and skeptical of locally harvested agriculture products. Thus, there is a need to raise awareness of these locally grown products 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. As this example illustrates, the festival can expose more Singaporeans to the types of goods that are locally produced.

However, encouraging consumption of locally produced goods means rejecting 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 his 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 shows that 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; these allowed consumers to directly 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 to grow 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 within 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 experience for the residents to encourage consumption of 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, economies cannot block off all imports, especially for the case of Singapore, as we lack resources to be self-reliant. Although this is often viewed as a task hard to be achieved, I believe that so long as respective authorities step in and embark on constant innovation to promote locally grown products, Singapore can become self-reliant.

(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

Choong, O. (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