wildsingapore news: food

Showing posts with label food. Show all posts

Showing posts with label food. Show all posts

Singapore needs to lift farm production, cut waste, as global protein shortage looms: Study

NAVENE ELANGOVAN Today Online 28 Aug 19;

SINGAPORE — As a result of climate change and rising population, the world is set to face a 56 per cent shortfall in food nutrition by 2050. Yet, Singapore is still heavily reliant on food imports from countries with weather-dependent traditional farms, a new study has found.

Released on Tuesday (Aug 27), the study by the Singapore Environment Council (SEC) and consulting firm Deloitte said that Singapore's farms are the key to bolstering the country's food security — by deploying smart technology to boost yields.

Singapore should also become a centre for food by-products, as a way to tackle large levels of food waste, it added. Some details of the study, on food waste, were released earlier this month.

Plant-based diet can fight climate change - UN

Roger Harrabin BBC 8 auG 19;

Switching to a plant-based diet can help fight climate change, UN experts have said.

A major report on land use and climate change says the West's high consumption of meat and dairy produce is fuelling global warming.

But scientists and officials stopped short of explicitly calling on everyone to become vegan or vegetarian.

They said that more people could be fed using less land if individuals cut down on eating meat.

The document, prepared by 107 scientists for the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), says that if land is used more effectively, it can store more of the carbon emitted by humans.

The link between durian and climate change

Audrey Tan Straits Times 8 Aug 19;

SINGAPORE - Global hunger for staples like rice is fuelling the release of planet-warming emissions, a new scientific report released on Thursday (Aug 8) shows.

Closer to home, the growing appetite for other delicacies is also contributing to climate change, with forests in places like Malaysia being cleared to make way for Musang King durian plantations.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) special report on climate change and land shines the spotlight on how the way humans have been using land is affecting the planet.

Agriculture is a major focus of the report authored by 103 scientists from 52 countries.

Every Singaporean household throws away an average S$258 worth of food a year: Study

LOW YOUJIN Today Online 6 Aug 19;

SINGAPORE — Even though Singapore prides itself on all things culinary, a new study has found that each household here throws away an estimated S$258 worth of unconsumed food annually.

Across all households, that amounts to about S$342 million of wasted food a year. Put another way, an average household tosses away the equivalent of 52 plates of nasi lemak over 12 months.

The study, published on Tuesday (Aug 6), was conducted by the Singapore Environment Council (SEC), and looked at both household food waste, and the large amount of food lost before it ever gets to the customer — during production, packaging and storage, for example.

Two million tonnes of food is imported into Singapore, of which 393,000 tonnes is lost.

Stop abusing land, scientists warn

Roger Harrabin BBC 5 Aug 19;

Scientists are to deliver a stark condemnation of the damage being done to the land surface of the planet.

Human activities have led to the degrading of soils, expanded deserts, felled forests, driven out wildlife, and drained peatlands, they will say.

In the process, land has been turned from an asset that combats climate change into a major source of carbon.

The scientists will say this land abuse must be stopped to avoid catastrophic climate heating.

Indonesia: Drought threats may affect food prices: researcher

Antara 28 Jul 19;

Jakarta (ANTARA) - The government would need to seriously address the threat posed by drought as it could lead to the risk of crop failures and furthermore affect food prices, a researcher at he Center for Indonesian Policy Studies (CIPS) Galuh Octania said.

"The risk of crop failure cannot be separated from drought as most parts of Indonesia has started to experience dry season," Octania said in a written statement received in Jakarta on Sunday.

Hence, she said, the government must be aware of the possibility of soaring food prices.

Indonesia: Weather modification likely to prevent Rp3 trillion loss

Antara 10 Jul 19;

How much is the state loss due to the harvest failure? The estimation is up to Rp3 trillion, and hence we must find a solution to address the drought, and one way out is by making artificial rain
Bogor, West Java (ANTARA) - The Agency for Technology Assessment and Application (BPPT) will propose the use of weather modification technology to deal with the severe dry season that could inflict a loss worth Rp3 trillion in the agricultural field.

"We are trying to calculate (loss) caused by harvest failure. This is just a proposal. How much is the state loss due to the harvest failure? The estimation is up to Rp3 trillion, and hence we must find a solution to address the drought, and one way out is by making artificial rain," Hammam Riza, head of BPPT, said.

Many farming areas in Java, Bali and West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) have been affected by the extreme dry spell.

Indonesia: Dry spells spread to wider Indonesian areas, affect farming

Antara 8 Jul 19;

Earlier this year, the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) reminded the regional authorities to step up their vigilance over possible forest fires and droughts as this year's dry season was forecast to be drier than that of the previous year.

The extreme dry season has affected several areas since May and is expected to last until September, with the condition likely to peak in August. In the beginning, dry spells were reported mostly on Java Island. Currently, drought has cast a pall over 100 districts and cities in the Aceh, West Java, Central Java, Yogyakarta, East Java, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), and East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) provinces, the Indonesian Agriculture Ministry's data stated.

"Most parts of Java, Bali, and Nusa Tenggara have not received rains for over 30 days. Drought has affected some 100 districts and cities," Sarwo Edhy, director general for agriculture infrastructure and facilities at the Agriculture Ministry, revealed on July 8, 2019, following a coordinating meeting to discuss mitigation efforts.

Revealed: rampant deforestation of Amazon driven by global greed for meat

Investigation exposes how Brazil’s huge beef sector continues to threaten health of world’s largest rainforest
Dom Phillips and Daniel Camargos in São Félix do Xingu, Andre Campos in São Paulo, and Andrew Wasley and Alexandra Heal in London
The Guardian 2 Jul 19;

The cows grazed under the midday Amazon sun, near a wooden bridge spanning a river. It was an idyllic scene of pastoral quiet, occasionally broken by a motorbike growling on the dirt road that cuts through part of the Lagoa do Triunfo cattle farm to a nearby community.

But this pasture is land that the farm has been forbidden to use for cattle since 2010, when it was embargoed by Brazil’s government environment agency Ibama for illegal deforestation. Nearby were more signs of fresh pasture: short grass, feeding troughs, and salt for cattle.

The vast 145,000-hectare (358,302-acre) farm is one of several owned by the company AgroSB Agropecuária SA – known in the region as Santa Bárbara. Located in an environmentally protected area, Lagoa do Triunfo is more than 600km (372 miles) from the capital of the Amazon state of Pará on the western fringes of Brazil’s “agricultural frontier” – where farming eats into the rainforest. To get there takes hours of driving along dirt roads and a ferry ride from nearby São Félix do Xingu, a cattle town accessible only by plane until a few decades ago.

AgroSB supplies cattle to JBS, the world’s biggest meat packing company and single biggest supplier of beef, chicken and leather globally, with 350,000 customers in more than 150 countries.

How Singapore is battling ‘existential’ climate threat

Environmental change and water dispute with Malaysia threaten low-lying state
Stefania Palma Financial Times 27 Jun 19;

One word crops up repeatedly in Singaporean authorities’ discussions on the environmental risks facing the low-lying country: “existential”.

An island nation half the size of London with limited natural resources, Singapore is vulnerable to rising sea levels and flooding, with food and water security major concerns. A spat with Malaysia over an accord that has underpinned water exports to Singapore for almost six decades has compounded the sustainability challenge.

However, Singapore has rolled out some of the world’s most progressive policies to tackle climate change risks as well as encouraging businesses to harness technology to address them.

“The effects of climate change are real, and in Singapore we are definitely going to be facing them,” says Pamela Lee, director of policy and planning at the National Climate Change Secretariat in the prime minister’s office.

New Aquaculture Innovation Centre seeks to work with other players on joint research

Shabana Begum Straits Times 26 Jun 19;

SINGAPORE - Food and beverage outlets providing food waste that can be used for fish feed is an example of partnership that the new Aquaculture Innovation Centre (AIC) is looking for. It is seeking urban fish farms, tertiary institutes, government agencies and other industries that can come together to help increase Singapore's seafood production.

The country's 10th centre of innovation is the first to be run as a consortium so that various players from academia and industries can research jointly to strengthen the aquaculture sector.

The AIC, headquartered in Temasek Polytechnic and supported by Enterprise Singapore, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Wednesday (June 26) to collaborate with eight partners including other polytechnics, the National University of Singapore, the Agency for Science, Technology and Research, and the Singapore Food Agency.

Crabs reared sustainably to help boost Singapore's food security

Project ongoing to grow crustaceans in lab amid efforts to increase local food production
Shabana Begum Straits Times 27 Jun 19;

Inside a lab in Temasek Polytechnic, dozens of mud crabs are scuttling, feeding and breeding - to meet Singaporeans' insatiable appetite for chilli crab and black pepper crab.

Due to overharvesting and bad weather conditions brought on by global warming, the mud crab populations in countries like the Philippines, Indonesia and Sri Lanka, where Singapore imports crabs from, have dwindled by 30 per cent.

Many crabs are also harvested before they reach maturity, which is an unsustainable farming practice.

10 new land parcels in Lim Chu Kang on sale for farming

The plots come with a 20-year lease and six of them are for bean sprouts
Cheryl Teh Straits Times 20 Jun 19;

The humble bean sprout continues to be a major part of Singapore's journey towards self-sufficiency in producing its own food.

In another step along this path, 10 land parcels for food farming in Lim Chu Kang were put up for sale yesterday by public tender by the Singapore Food Agency (SFA).

These include six land parcels for bean-sprout farming, three land parcels for general agriculture (food) farming and one land parcel for vegetable farming, the agency said in a statement.

The land parcels for general agriculture (food) farming may be used to farm food crops, seafood, quail eggs, cattle or goats for dairy milk, and/or frogs reared for food.

Indonesia: Flooding inundates 40 hectares of rice fields in Mukomuko, Bengkulu

Antara 20 Jun 19;

Mukomuko, Bengkulu (ANTARA) - Flooding caused by continuous torrential rains resulted in a local river overflowing its bank and inundating some 40 hectares of rice fields in Pondok Baru Village, Selagan Raya Sub-district, Mukomuko District, Bengkulu Province.

In spite of the flooding, two-month-old paddy plants in the affected rice fields were not destroyed, Sugiyanto, an official of the Mukomuko agriculture office, confirmed here on Thursday.

Indonesia: 900 hectares of rice fields flooded in Penajam, E Kalimantan

Antara 18 Jun 19;

Penajam, East Kalimantan (ANTARA) - At least 900 hectares of rice fields were inundated in Babulu Sub-district, Penajam Paser Utara District, East Kalimantan Province.

Of the 900 hectares, 600 hectares were located in Sebakung Village and 300 hectares in Sri Rahrja, Bambang Marjuki, an official of the Penajam Paser Utara agriculture office, said here on Tuesday.

The condition of paddy plants were not very bad, so local farmers still could harvest it, he said.

The paddy would have been spoiled if the rice fields were flooded for too long, and if the farmers did not harvest it immediately, he said.

In the meantime, flooding in Samarinda, East Kalimantan, earlier, had extended to a broader area and affected 9,358 families constituting 30,580 people, rising from 20 thousand people the day before, in North Samarinda, Sungai Pinang, and Samarinda Ulu sub-districts.

Urbanisation, commercial farms threaten Asia's forests, U.N. warns

Rina Chandran, Thomson Reuters Foundation 18 Jun 19;

BANGKOK, June 18 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Sprawling urban areas and expanding plantations are placing greater pressure on forests and resources in Asia-Pacific, hurting rural communities and exacerbating the effects of climate change, the United Nations food agency said on Tuesday.

The region has the world’s lowest per capita forest area of 19% compared to the global average of 32%, even as the total forest area increased by nearly 18 million hectares (44 million acres) between 1990 and 2015, a report by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said.

While some Asian countries have introduced policies to conserve forests and give more rights to indigenous people, the area of planted forest nearly doubled between 1990 and 2015 at the expense of more critical primary forests, it said.

“We are worried about the lack of forest quality in our region – as primary forests are rich in biodiversity – and once that’s gone it’s gone,” said Kundhavi Kadiresan, FAO assistant director-general and regional representative in Bangkok.

“Unfortunately, conservation of forests in one country often just shifts deforestation to another,” she said.

More locally grown organic food in store after farm gets first-of-its-kind certification

LAUREN ONG Today Online 11 Jun 19;

SINGAPORE — Singaporeans are set to see more locally grown organic products in their supermarkets after a vegetable farm in Lim Chu Kang took a vital step towards meeting fast-growing demand here for clean, green food.

The farm, operated by Sky Greens, is Singapore’s first farm to secure a new national standard for organic primary produce grown in or near an urban area. The farm received the SS 632 Certification on Tuesday (June 11) at a ceremony attended by Environment and Water Resources Minister Masagos Zulkifli.

NTUC Fairprice director of food quality and safety, Ms Chong Nyet Chin, said Singaporeans’ expanding disposable income, increasing health concerns and consumer awareness are some of the drivers behind the proliferation of the local organic market.

She said consumers here increasingly want to “go for green, go for local and go for niche”.

An average person could ingest 100,000 plastic particles a year — equal to one credit card a week: Study

CYNTHIA CHOO Today Online 12 Jun 19;

SINGAPORE — An average person could be ingesting as many as 1,900 plastic particles a week — more than 100,000 particles a year — from sources such as tap and bottled water, shellfish, beer and salt, a study commissioned by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has found.

This translates to eating about 250 grams of plastic a year. Put another way, it’s like consuming 5 grams of plastic a week — the equivalent of munching through a credit card.

The study, which is the first to estimate and combine insights from over 50 studies globally on the ingestion of plastic by people, was done by researchers at the University of Newcastle in Australia and strategy consulting firm Dalberg Advisors.

Singapore’s Sky Farms Are Transforming The Agriculture Sector

Marvie Chorawan-Basilan Business Times 6 Jun 19;

Singapore's cost-efficient sky farms are changing the way people in the city-state view farming and agriculture as a whole. Lab-grown and in-building products are being promoted to help achieve the ultimate goal of producing 30 percent of Singapore's total food by 2030.

According to Voice of America, the basic principle in sky farms is to grow fish, vegetables, and other crops and seafood on top of the city-state's skyscrapers. Singapore has an estimated 5.6 million citizens, but the local agriculture sector only produces 10 percent of food products for Singaporeans.

Among the challenges that the government is faced with are population growth and climate change. With more people moving to the city-state, the biggest dilemma is space for growing crops.

"Whenever I talk about food security in Singapore, I tell folks don't think land - think space. Because you can go upwards and sideways," agriculture professor at Nanyang Technological University, Paul Teng, noted.

Singapore and other cities have to think outside the box in food production

ELYSSA LUDHER AND TAN POH HONG Today Online 7 Jun 19;

By 2050, two in three persons in the world will be urbanites. Yet today, only 5 to 10 per cent of food is grown in cities. With climate change projected to decrease global food yields by 25 per cent, cities will need to step up to produce food.

As competition for space becomes even more acute, how can we think outside the box to integrate food production in our cities?

A good starting point is to examine how technology is creating new spaces to produce vegetables, meat and even milk in urban spaces.

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