Singaporeans plant a new future
Singaporeans plant a new future
Singapore is famed for its diverse cuisine – from Michelin-starred delicacies to timeless hawker favourites. With nearly six million living on a compact terrain of just 720 sq-km, how does the country produce some of the food to feed its residents?
The source of the island-state’s multi-cultural gastronomy is explored on a fascinating one-day tour that takes in experimental gardens and green spaces close to the futuristic urban landscape of towering skyscrapers. Guests even get the opportunity to cultivate some new-age crops.
Unbeknown to many, the glitzy metropolis does have farms in a semi-rural enclave and this family-friendly excursion reveals an alternative side to the high-tech Lion City.
The first stop is Kok Fah Technology Farm, the island’s largest vegetable farm where means other than soil, such as hydroponics, increase output by around 20 per cent, on much smaller cultivation plots.
The exploration continues to Inseccta Singapore where insects turn trash into treasure. Many countries face the problem of excess food waste and this enterprise uses black soldier fly larva to eat through an average eight tons of food surplus per month. The grubs can eat up to four times their body weight in food in a single day and the resultant by-product is turned into agricultural fertilizer to yield more crops – part of an ongoing cycle that sustains life for Singaporeans.
The enlightening excursion ends at an open farm community where kids can pet animals and see where food originates. After helping to cultivate organic crops, a healthy lunch provides the physical connection between urban and rural settlements.
