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)
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