Five fish farms here link up and 10 others keen to join cooperative
Jessica Lim, Straits Times 4 Aug 09;
MORE local fish are now on supermarket shelves - the result of fish farmers in Singapore banding together.
Five fish farms here formed a cooperative in May - the first one among farms here - and they now sell their output directly to NTUC FairPrice, which buys an average of 500kg of fish from them daily for most of its 89 outlets.
With this sale being virtually in the bag, the fish farms will be spurred to raise their output, which will grow the stockpile of local food.
At the moment, the output of the co-op - to be registered as a business in two months - makes up about 5 per cent of the fish sold in Singapore, with FairPrice being its chief client.
It is a modest start. After all, Singapore has 105 fish farms, breeding fish like sea bass and mullet from fry bought from places like Taiwan and Indonesia.
The co-op's founder, fish farmer Malcolm Ong, 46, is determined to push membership in the Singapore Marine Aquaculture Cooperative to 50 in the next year. Already, 10 more farmers have expressed interest in joining it, he said.
In Singapore, which imports more than 90 per cent of its food, co-ops give some protection from turbulence in global food supply and prices. The world's wild fish supply has been thinning, the result of overfishing and climate change.
Unstable prices could be round the corner. Without a co-op, farmers unsure of market demand would be wary of overbreeding, for fear of being unable to sell the fish a year later, when they are grown enough to go to the market.
Thus far, fish farmers here have sold mixed stocks of local and imported fish to retailers at Jurong Fishery Port, an arrangement that has given them no push to raise their output.
And until now, FairPrice had not accepted direct sales from individual farmers to avoid the hassle of working with different individuals.
The change is among moves that the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) hopes will push the percentage of local fish in the national supply from 4 per cent to 15 per cent in the next five years. The AVA is also stepping up efforts to breed fish through genetic selection, identifying faster-growing breeds and supplying their fry to local fish farms, in a bid to raise productivity.
Even if more locally raised fish are on supermarket shelves, it is unlikely they will be cheaper, however. Market prices will still prevail.
'The intention here is to increase productivity and the supply of local food,' said Ms Wee Joo Yong, who heads the AVA's Marine Aquaculture Branch. 'We are not targeting prices, which depend on market forces.'
She explained, however, that with co-ops being able to procure fish feed and fish fry in bulk, the lowered production costs for the farmers could lead to lower costs down the road.
Co-op founder Mr Ong, who owns Metropolitan Fishery Group, expects the costs on his 2ha farm off Lim Chu Kang to come down by 20 per cent.
FairPrice will hold a local farm fish and seafood fair on Thursday, aimed at diversifying the food supply and keeping supply and prices stable.
Meanwhile, other stores, such as heartland chain MCP Supermarket, think working with the co-op is a good idea.
Mr Raymond Tan, who owns the six-outlet chain, said: 'It's good to support each other.'
Six reasons and more why Singaporeans should buy locally-farmed fish
Today Online 4 Aug 09;
NTUC FairPrice aims to get local consumers to buy more locally-farmed fish.
Singapore's leading supermarket chain is partnering the local fish farmers' cooperative in a locally-farmed fish and seafood fair on Thursday.
Six varieties of such fish will be introduced: Grey mullet, milk fish, seabass, red snapper, black king fish (cobia) and green mussel.
They will be available at 45 FairPrice supermarkets across the island.
The move comes only days after the Government announced it would aim to boost the local supply of fish from 4 per cent of the stock, to 15 per cent in five years.
"This is part of our food supply diversification strategy," said Mr Tng Ah Yiam, FairPrice's director of integrated purchasing.
But why should consumers buy into locally-farmed seafood? Because it's guaranteed fresh and of high quality, noted FairPrice.
Said Mr Tng: "The advantages of supplying locally-farmed fish include faster delivery between point of harvest and point of sale, improvement in quality due to shorter delivery time and lower transport costs."
In addition, the farms have to comply with stringent Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority standards.
