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Audrey Tan The Straits Times AsiaOne 25 Feb 15;
A RARE golden babirusa specimen stood encased in glass in a dusty little corner of the National University of Singapore (NUS) for decades.
The pig artefact, collected in 1913 in Indonesia, will soon be watching over something bigger and better when it takes its place at the upcoming Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum, located next to the University Cultural Centre at NUS.
Before the move, however, it had to undergo at least two weeks of preparation. First, it had to be placed in a waterproof box to protect it from condensation. Then the prized wild pig was frozen at -21 deg C to kill mites or insects, before being progressively thawed to about 15 deg C.
All this, just to prepare one specimen for its new home at Singapore's first and only natural history museum, slated to open its doors in April.
The museum will be a treasure trove of the region's rich natural heritage, housing animal specimens and fossils from the vaults of the former Raffles Museum, which dates back to 1849.
More than 500,000 lots of specimens were moved - from quirky creatures like an eight-legged piglet to locally extinct species like the three- striped ground squirrel.
And even though not all will go on display - more than 90 per cent will be kept as part of the research collection for academics, students and scientists - they all had to be packed and prepped for the massive move, which involved the museum's seven curators, a team of about 10 professional art movers and about five student assistants and museum specialists.
Dr Tan Heok Hui, one of the curators, said the collection could be broadly divided into two categories - dry and wet.
The dry category will be housed on the museum's fourth floor, and consists of plants, birds, mammals, fish and coral specimens, among others.
Like the golden babirusa, specimens in this category had to undergo extensive preparation work.
Moving the wet collection, which included specimens kept in a liquid medium of about 75 per cent ethanol (a flammable liquid), involved getting permits from the Singapore Civil Defence Force.
The wet category will be housed on levels two and three of the new museum, which has purpose-built rooms.
The curators are confident that the move will be completed by June, although specimens for public viewing will be ready by its official opening.
The research collection, however, will be opened only in phases for scientific use, said Dr Tan.
He added: "I once visited a bookshop in Vietnam and found that the books were arranged by size - I couldn't find anything.
"It is the same for the research collection. If nothing is in its place, information cannot be extracted and is as good as lost."
Moving a prized pig
THE rare golden babirusa needed intensive care before it could be moved to its new home at the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum.
The prized wild pig had to undergo at least two weeks of preparation. It had to be placed in a waterproof box to protect it from condensation.
Then it was frozen at -21 deg C to kill mites or insects, before being progressively thawed to about 15 deg C.
Linette Heng The New Paper AsiaOne 25 Feb 15;
Teacher Tan Ken Jin has the tendency to pick up any litter he sees.
The 37-year-old does it without fuss - he picks up the trash with his bare hands before washing them at the nearest basin.
It all started in 2012 when he was training for a marathon and was frustrated by the litter he saw along his route.
Mr Tan decided to act and began the Singapore Glove Project, a community initiative where people would walk or jog with gloves on and pick up litter along their path at the same time.
"I was moved by all the trash around me to start something larger than myself, as I knew I could not do it alone," he said.
"The aim of the movement is to encourage Singaporeans to stay active by exploring the many corners of our beautiful country, while at the same time helping to beautify it."
Mr Tan said onlookers often get confused when they see members of the Singapore Glove Project at work and assume they are doing a Corrective Work Order.
Civic duty
"We just explain that we are performing a civic duty and encourage them to join us or not litter," he added.
But Mr Tan thinks their biggest challenge is to get naysayers to feel they need to be part of the solution.
"There is sadly a group of people who still point fingers at foreigners, be they tourists or workers, saying that they are the problem.
"While I do not doubt that some foreigners contribute to the problem, there are many foreigners who help out with the Singapore Glove Project as well. On the flip side, we have also seen locals littering and we do our best to educate them."
Mr Tan, who is the head of department of student development at Bartley Secondary School, hopes to inspire his students to do the same.
Recalling how a friend praised him for being "brave" when he politely told a litterbug to pick up his cigarette butt, Mr Tan wishes that more people would do the same.
"Going up to a fellow countryman to help keep Singapore clean shouldn't be seen as bravery. It should be seen as something natural and I wish all of us would have the motivation to remind one another to keep our country clean," he said.
I wish all of us would have the motivation to remind one another to keep our country clean.
- Mr Tan Ken Jin.
Channel NewsAsia 25 Feb 15;
SINGAPORE: A Malaysian man has been fined S$1,500 after he was caught illegally importing animals across the Causeway, the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority (AVA) and the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) announced in a joint media release on Wednesday (Feb 25).
On Feb 6, the 26-year-old Malaysian was a passenger in a Singapore-registered taxi when it was stopped by ICA officers at the Woodlands Checkpoint for routine checks.
During the inspection, officers uncovered two four-toed hedgehogs and one leopard gecko in the passenger’s belongings. The hedgehogs were found hidden inside a shoe box while the gecko was placed in a small plastic container that was kept in the passenger’s white zip pouch.
The AVA was alerted, with the Malaysian passenger and the animals handed over to AVA for investigations.
AVA later issued the offender a fine under the Animals and Birds Act and the Wild Animals and Birds Act for the illegal import of animals. The animals were sent to the Singapore Zoo.
Travellers are reminded not to bring live animals, birds and insects into Singapore without a proper permit. The importation of any animals or live birds without an AVA permit is an offence and offenders can be charged in court and fined a maximum of S$10,000 and/or imprisoned for up to a year.
- CNA/ac
Man caught smuggling 2 hedgehogs and a gecko through Woodlands Checkpoint
AsiaOne 25 Feb 15;
SINGAPORE - Two four-toed hedgehogs and a leopard gecko were uncovered from a man's belongings during a routine check at the Woodlands Checkpoint on Feb 6 at about 8.45pm, said the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority (AVA) and Immigrations Customs Authority (ICA) in a joint statement released today.
A 26-year-old Malaysian man was aboard a Singapore-registered taxi during the inspection conducted by ICA officers.
The hedgehogs were found hidden inside a shoe box and the gecko was placed in a small plastic container that was kept in the passenger's white zip pouch.
ICA subsequently handed the passenger and the seized exhibits over to AVA for investigations.
The passenger was fined $1,500 for importing animals illegally and the taxi driver was released after it was found that he was not implicated in the case.
The animals were later sent to the Singapore Zoo.
AVA added that animals like geckos and hedgehogs are not suitable pets as some may transmit zoonotic diseases to humans and can be a public safety risk if mishandled or if they escape.
These non-native animals may also pose a threat to local biodiversity if released into the environment.
Importing any animals or live birds without an AVA permit is an offence, and anyone found guilty of smuggling animals faces a maximum fine of $10,000 and/or a jail term of up to one year.
For more information on bringing animals into Singapore from overseas travels, visit AVA's website at http://www.ava.gov.sg/.
New Straits Times 24 Feb 15;
PUTRAJAYA: The hot and dry spell in many areas is in the final phase of the monsoon season which is expected to abate by the end of March, said Meteorological Department director-general Datuk Che Gayah Ismail.
“It is now the tail end of the northeast monsoon which causes many areas to receive less rain over an extended period, leading to the hot and dry weather,” she said when attending the 2015 message by Science, Technology and Innovation Minister, here today.
Che Gayah said the current weather condition had not reached the ‘hot wave’ level and was still categorised as normal with 30 per cent rainfall based on the long term average.
Asked if the temperature of the hot and dry weather was different from last year, she said there was not see much difference with the temperature varying over three degrees Celcius.
The temperature in Malaysia is currently between 33 and 35 degrees Celcius.
Che Gayah said the inter-monsoon season would start in April until mid-May, when states in the peninsula would experience wet weather with thunderstorm in the afternoon and evening.
She said heavy rain and thunderstorm were common before the southwest monsoon begins from June to September which is the dry and haze season.
Che Gayah said under its standard operating procedure (SOP), the department would only carry out cloud seeding when haze reached the level hazardous to human health.
“The department is always prepared to conduct cloud seeding with private flight companies to overcome the problem. At times, dam operators will also carry out cloud seeding to raise the level of water. If they seek our help, we will be prepared to assist,” she said. -- BERNAMA
PATRICK LEE The Star 25 Feb 15;
KLUANG: A logging road is allegedly being opened in the gazetted Kluang catchment area, raising fears that future logging there will taint local water supply.
Believed to be several kilometres long and reaching deep into the jungles near here, the newly-opened road appears to be in the east end of the gazetted catchment area.
The catchment area is to serve as a water resource for the Kahang Dam.
A source who alerted The Star to the matter said that the road appeared there between December 2014 and January this year.
“The issue here is that it falls (within the water catchment area), and will have an effect on a crucial future water resource for the Kluang district,” the source told The Star.
In a visit there in late January, The Star noticed an excavator and a bulldozer parked on the way to the newly opened road, 30km north-east of Kluang.
The only possible way to get to the new road is via an existing logging road, which the source said was in use decades prior.
While there were no signs of large-scale tree-felling by the road, a few trees alongside had been marked with tags. Some were also marked with spraypaint.
Global Positioning System (GPS) devices showed the road apparently skirting the Gua Harimau hill, which lay within the catchment area.
According to a Detailed Environmental Impact Assessment report on the Kahang Dam, the catchment area was gazetted as such by the Johor state government on Oct 9, 2008.
The Kahang Dam is expected to provide some 100 million extra litres of water a day, meeting Kluang’s water demand up to 2035. It is expected to be ready after September 2016.
Current water supply for the Kluang district is roughly 132 million litres a day.
The DEIA states that the area also falls within the Kluang Forest Reserve.
“Since the forest is gazetted as a water catchment area, the forest will be free from logging activty,” the report said.
A statement by Johor Forestry Department director Mohd Ridza Awang said that the planned logging was going to take place in the nearby Kluang Forest Reserve.
He said that the logging licence would cover some 23.36ha, and was valid from Dec 15, 2014, to March 14 this year.
“This office will conduct periodical monitoring on the area,” he said.
Johor Forestry deputy director Mohd Rahim Rani clarified that the road and the to-be-logged area was out of the catchment zone.
“It is outside of the catchment area, and the area (to be logged) is under production forest,” he said.
Production forest is a term where a jungle area can be gazetted for logging purposes.
MELIZARANI T. SELVA The Star 25 Feb 15;
HAVING lost 50% of its original rainforest to coastal development in recent years, Langkawi Island’s Unesco Geopark status could change following the United Nations agency’s scheduled review this year.
Gathering support from Institute of Foresters Malaysia (IRIM), Malaysian Nature Society (MNS), villagers of Kuala Melaka, Kuala Teriang and the media, Berjaya Langkawi Resort launched the Mangrove 4 Life (M4L) campaign, as part of Berjaya Hotels & Resorts (BHR)’s corporate social responsibility initiative Live & Care.
Berjaya Langkawi Resort general manager Chris Niuh said the three-day mangrove conservation campaign was close to their hearts, as it had a direct impact on the surrounding community of the 20-year-old resort.
“Villagers of Kampung Kuala Melaka in Kuala Teriang area suffered the worst damage following the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, as there was no engineered coastal protection or sufficient mangroves to act as natural coastal defence.
“The first steps in our M4L campaign is focused on replanting mangrove trees in this area, for these communities to recover and achieve greater sustainability in restoring the surrounding mangrove ecosystem, which is essential for coastal protection during strong waves.
With the help of villagers from Kampung Kuala Melaka, the recent campaign saw participants putting on bright yellow boots and planting 424 rhizophora mucronata species mangrove saplings along the shoreline of Kampung Kuala Melaka.
Malaysian Nature Society head of communications Andrew J. Sebastian, who guided the enthusiastic team of novice tree planters, gave a briefing on the importance of mangroves to the island’s rainforest ecosystem.
“Mangrove habitats and ecosystems store and cycle nutrients, filter pollutants, protect shorelines from erosion and storms, and play a vital role in modulating climate as they are a major carbon sink and oxygen source.
“For effective mangrove replanting, we used the rhizophora mucronata species, due to its fast-growing nature and ability to flower within its first year of planting.”
Led by Malaysian Nature Society personnel, 1.82m PVC tubes were first encased in the sand to form a wave breaker stretch to protect the M4L mangrove planting site to reduce the impact of the waves on the saplings and ensure a higher chance of survival and growth.
Sebastian said he had high hopes for the new project in restoring balance to Kuala Teriang’s natural ecosystem for years to come.
Serving as a local platform to educate and strengthen mangrove conservation efforts, the project’s passion was also shared with 48 pupils aged 10 to 12 from SK Kuala Teriang.
Conducted by Dr Evelyn Lim, the Malaysian Nature Society Ecotourism and Conservation honorary secretary and co-facilitated by the media, the Mangrove Awareness Workshop for schoolchildren was a fun-filled event.
The children enjoyed interactive games and tree-planting sessions that explained the characteristics of different mangrove species and the threats they faced from deforestation. “It was truly fulfilling teaching the children how to carefully plant the mangrove saplings to ensure its survival.
“Teaching them what I had learnt earlier from members of the Malaysian Nature Society helped me remember points on mangrove conservation and interesting facts on the trees we were planting.
“It was definitely a memorable and enriching experience,” said Bernard Cheah, who was with the media.
From the session, an additional 98 mangrove saplings were planted by the children at Berjaya Langkawi Resort’s mangrove site.
Thinking ahead in promoting eco-tourism, Niuh said the island resort, which covered an area of 28.3ha, would eventually introduce more eco-friendly holiday packages such as a three-day-two-night stay at their Rainforest Chalet with mangrove-planting activities.
“Maintaining the resort is a constant challenge as we are between two live ecosystems, the sea and the rainforest.
“Unlike our city hotels, our resort here is more focused on being as natural as possible in terms of our architecture and daily practices.
“Eventually, we will introduce holiday packages that enable our guests to not only enjoy the flora and fauna around the area but also incorporate activities to help them understand and appreciate the ecosystem better,” said Niuh.
Apriadi Gunawan and Rizal Harahap, The Jakarta Post 25 Feb 15;
Haze from land and forest fires in a number of regions in North Sumatra blanketed areas around the Kualanamu International Airport in Deli Serdang regency on Tuesday.
However, the haze, which was present until 8:30 a.m., did not disrupt flights as visibility remained normal.
Airport spokesman Prasetyo Dewandono said the airport had been covered by haze for the past two days. He added that the haze, which was only seen in the morning, had yet to disrupt flights.
“Despite the presence of haze at the airport, visibility remains normal ranging between 1,500 and 3,000 meters. All flights have been smooth,” Prasetyo told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.
The weather forecast analyst at the Medan branch of the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), Dodi Syahputera, said the haze covering Kualanamu airport for the past two days was attributed to the rise in the number of hot spots in North Sumatra. He added that the haze over Kualanamu airport originated from hot spots in nearby Serdang Bedagai regency.
“We detected a hot spot in Serdang Bedagai that resulted from a land fire. The smoke was carried by wind to the northeast in the direction of Kualanamu airport,” said Dodi on Tuesday.
He added that based on satellite observations, the number of hot spots in North Sumatra over the past two days was rising; nine were detected on Monday and 11 on Tuesday.
Three of them were found in Mandailing Natal, two in Asahan, one in Serdang Bedagai, one in Labuhan Batu and four in Langkat regency.
Dodi said the growing number of hot spots was due to widespread land clearing activities in various regions. He said that no hot spot was detected in Langkat on Monday, but four appeared on Tuesday.
“This proves that land clearing activities by burning in the regions has increased since [farmers] are taking advantage of the dry weather,” said Dodi.
He added that the temperature in Medan and several other regions in the province had reached between 33 and 340C, hot enough to easily encourage local people to clear land by burning.
In Riau, the Riau Police have arrested nine suspects for alleged arson to clear land.
Police have also separately seized evidence used to set fire to plots of land in six different regencies.
Police arrested a suspect in Bengkalis, two in Indragiri Hulu, one in Indragiri Hilir, three in Siak, one in Pelalawan and another one in Rokan Hilir.
“The suspects were arrested based on public information from separate places. All of them are still undergoing intensive questioning to disclose whether of not the fires were masterminded,” said Riau Police detective chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Kaswandi Irwan on Tuesday.
Kaswandi added that he supported the central government’s decision to raise the land and forest fire warning status in Riau to emergency status.
“It was the right move in order to prevent land and forest fires from getting worse. Last year, the land and forest fires were quite severe, especially between February and April, the peak of the dry season,” he added.
On Tuesday morning, the BMKG Pekanbaru station recorded 18 hot spots in Riau, specifically nine in Bengkalis, four in Meranti Islands and five in Siak. As many as 15 of them have been confirmed as fires, with a likelihood of over 70 percent. Three of them were found in Meranti Islands, four in Siak and eight in Bengkalis.
Earlier this month, the Riau provincial administration kick-started the Haze Disaster Command Station at Roesmin Nurjadin Airport in Pekanbaru as the number of hot spots and forest and land fires increased and is predicted to keep rising until next month.
Haze from forest and land fires in Sumatra has been an annual problem for almost two decades. In the past few years, haze has begun to move toward Singapore and Malaysia, causing tension between the Indonesian government and its neighbors.
Haze blankets Bagansiapi-api, Riau
Antara 24 Feb 15;
Residents across the street in the siege of heavy smoke in the morning in the city Bagansiapiapi, Rokan Hilir, Riau, Tuesday (February 24, 2015). (ANTARA/Aswaddy Hamid)
Pekanbaru (ANTARA News) - Haze from forest and plantation fires blanketed Bagansiapi-api City in Rokan Hilir District, Riau Province, on Tuesday.
"Visibility rate decreases drastically to 500 meters, particularly in the mornings," Aswadi Hamid, a local resident, said Tuesday.
There were no hotspots in Bagansiapi-api; the haze came from neighboring Dumai City and the Bengkalis border areas where forest and plantation fires occurred.
Meanwhile, the government has declared a state of emergency to prevent and handle forest fires in Riau Province, according to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB).
"The measure is to anticipate forest and field fires in 2015," Chief of the Public Relations and Information Center of BNPB Sutopo Purwo Nugroho stated on Sunday (Feb. 22).
According to Sutopo, Riau Province bears the brunt of forest fires every year. Based on the hotspot data for the 2006-2014 period, forest fires occurred twice every year in Riau, from February to April and June to October.
The disaster continues unabated every year, despite the government identifying the reasons and purpose of starting forest fires and establishing regulations to prevent them.
Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya has sought BNPBs assistance to take emergency steps to curb any possibility of the spread of hotspots and fires in Bengkalis District, Riau Province.
"One of the initial efforts is to carry out cloud seeding operations in the near future," Sutopo affirmed.
(Uu.F001/INE/KR-BSR/H-YH)
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Tay Suan Chiang and Rachel Loi The Business Times AsiaOne 23 Feb 15;
BT Weekend talks to homegrown tillers who are sowing the seeds of the future of farming in land-scarce Singapore.
Edible Garden City
Most people would baulk at the idea of giving up a well-paying job to toil under the sun as a farmer, but not Thomas Lim.
The Singaporean was working in Hong Kong in the finance industry for five years, before joining Edible Garden City as an urban farmer in 2012. The company champions the "Grow Your Own Food" movement in land-scarce and import-dependent Singapore.
"The pay was good, and the job had glamour and prestige, but I didn't fully enjoy it," says Mr Lim, 31, who started thinking about what else to do with his life. "Back then, I had no interest in farming or gardening at all."
During his time in the finance industry, he had the opportunity to travel for work and leisure to developing countries in Asia, such as Nepal, Bhutan and Mongolia. Mr Lim saw first-hand how life in the rural areas was so different from city life and he began thinking about social, health and environmental issues.
"I thought about farming and food, and how people who were farming were living healthier and happier," he says.
Upon his return to Singapore, he decided to do something related to food, and joined Edible Garden City.
As an urban farmer, he does foodscaping for clients - using food plants to landscape a space. "The result is a garden that is beautiful, and also effective," he says. Some of the food plants that he grows are herbs, vegetables, medicinal plants and fruit trees.
A food garden can be grown anywhere, on roof tops, on the balcony and on the ground. Mr Lim will advise on maintaining the garden, touching on issues such as soil, water, sunlight and dealing with pests.
He's currently working on a rooftop garden for Spectra Secondary School, as well as a rooftop garden at Wheelock Place for the Tippling Club. Being a farmer is a lot of physical work, sometimes it involves "carrying tonnes of soil up the stairs" and often under the sun. Mr Lim's tanned skin and well-defined biceps are testament to that. "I'd rather use my strength and body to do something useful, than to just lift weights," he quips.
Mr Lim's job requires him to clear the land, sow seeds, add compost to the soil, harvesting and prune the crops, and "also letting nature do its job", he says, adding that he still relies on traditional tools, such as the changkol.
On rainy days, he works indoors, replying to e-mail and working on proposals. "I see farming as a lifestyle. It is a hobby and an exercise rolled into one - and at the same time, it produces food," he says.
Apart from foodscaping, Mr Lim is also an urban beekeeper. "It is part of my interest in growing food," he says. He has beehive boxes in the corner of his grandmother's garden, and one in Kranji. He says that beehive boxes are common in cities such as London and New York, but are still very rare in Singapore. He reads up online about beekeeping, but says that he has been stung before.
The honey that is produced is shared with friends. "It tastes different from store-bought ones. The honey that I get has a more distinct floral scent," he says. Mr Lim doesn't think that more Singaporeans will become farmers like he has, but he hopes that more people would be interested in growing vegetables, "even through a community garden".
His family found it hard to believe when he told them he wanted to be a farmer. "My grandma asked me: 'Why do you want to hold a changkol, when you can hold a pen instead?'"
Mr Lim admits that he doesn't earn as much as he used to, and now spends less on dining out. "But I don't see these as sacrifices. I'm happier with less."
Ruling the roost at family farm: Lian Wah Hang Farm
It is a funny yet heartwarming sight: a grown man running after a two-day old quail chick and then catching the bird in his hand, and putting it back in the cage.
"This little one was trying to run away," says William Ho, 49, owner of Lian Wah Hang Farm, one of two quail farms in Singapore. His father, Ho Seng Choon, began farming in 1954, and now the farm is run by his son. Mr Ho recalls when he was a child, his mother would bar him from going to the farm, because he was the youngest in the family. Back then, Lian Wah Hang was a chicken farm.
"By the time I was in secondary school, I was allowed to take the bus on my own, and my first bus ride was to the farm," he says. "I found it to be the most wonderful place, where I could climb trees, catch spiders and crickets, and also watched my father and brothers working in the farm."
His father soon got him helping out at the farm. "I was made to clear chicken poop, which was a terrible chore to do as it was so smelly," he says. He later learnt that it was an important task, as from analysing poop, he would be able to check on the health of the birds.
And when his father later asked him to take over the farm, Mr Ho agreed - giving up his dream of working for the Singapore Air Force as an engineer. He learnt animal husbandry from a farm supervisor and was later made farm manager, where apart from managing the farm, he also took on the role of educating children about farming. "The farm was open to visitors, which gave us exposure and revenue," he says. ""It was our way of showing kids where chickens came from."
Later when the farm had to move from Choa Chu Kang to Lim Chu Kang, Mr Ho decided to go into quail farming instead. "Rearing chickens was not a competitive business," he says. Unlike chickens which take 21 days to incubate, quails needed only 16 days for incubation, and 42 days to mature. Once mature, they can lay eggs. For city folk who may not know, a bird lays only one egg a day.
Mr Ho has 150,000 quails on his 2.7-hectare farm, and he collects about 30,000 to 40,000 eggs a day. "Quail is a white meat and more tender than chicken," he says. "Contrary to what people think, quails eggs are actually low in cholesterol." The eggs are sold to egg wholesalers before they are sold at supermarkets.
As quail eggs are a popular ingredient for steamboat, the eggs are flying off the shelves during this period. But during low seasons, extra eggs (S$1.40 for 15) are sold at Farmart Centre, a retail space for local produce in the Sungei Tengah area. Mr Ho also sells his quails, at S$1.80 each there, mostly to housewives. His produce are sold under the "Uncle William" label.
He rears quails but also eats them. "As a farmer, I don't associate produce with pets." Apart from running the farm, Mr Ho also conducts tours for school kids at Farmart Centre, teaching them about quails and frogs. Time is running out for the farm in its present location, as its lease will not be renewed. Lian Wah Hang Farm and its neighbours will have to make way for army training grounds. The quail farm has about 21/2 years lease left.
Mr Ho reckons he will need at least S$5 million to invest in a new farm. He is open to investors coming in. "But in the worst case, I may pull out of quail farming, or go into vegetable farming, which requires lesser capital."
He doesn't see farming as a sunset industry, but rather, "it will be the next big industry".
He adds, "I want to be there when it happens, so I'm holding onto what I can."
Home to 15,000 American bullfrogs: Jurong Frog Farm
She's no fairy-tale princess but Chelsea Wan has kissed many frogs and has no intention to stop. Ms Wan, a "frog-o-logist", as stated on her business card, works at Jurong Frog Farm, which is owned by her family.
The sprightly 31-year-old has been working on the farm for the past nine years. She has an older sister and a younger brother, both of whom are not keen to work on the farm. But even in the early days, her father would give her a part-time job, to help run farm tours.
"Perhaps, because I'm independent and have always been left on my own, which is why I don't mind taking over the farm," she says. "Plus, I don't want my parents' efforts in building the farm to go to waste." She adds that she has never been scared of frogs or their sliminess.
Jurong Frog Farm was started in 1981, by her father Wan Boon Thiaw, who foresaw the potential of farming American bullfrogs. The farm, the only one of its kind in Singapore, has about 15,000 frogs.
There are workers on the farm involved with the farming of the frogs, but Ms Wan will also chip in to help. She has never dissected a frog, but plays a part in helping to debone the frogs and to sort out the meats.
Having lived on the farm since she was 14, the vast space of the farm appeals to her. "Two days after moving into our apartment, I told my husband I couldn't live in it anymore," she says. "It is just so tiny."
There are rows and rows of tanks on the 1.1 hectare farm. A few of the tanks are filled with tadpoles, while some others have froglets in them, and the remaining house the grown frogs, staring at anyone who walks by.
When she is not helping with the processing of the frog meat, Ms Wan takes charge of the branding for the company. The farm is open to the public only on weekends, where customers arrive to buy frozen frog meat and frogs' legs. Jurong Frog Farm also sells its produce to restaurants and supermarkets. But acknowledging that the farm is not centrally located, three months ago, Ms Wan started The Royal Frog Shop Online, so that customers can buy the produce without having to trek across the island. She has also refreshed the company logo into a cuter one of a frog peeping out of the water.
Conducting tours remains a part of Ms Wan's role. But unlike before when it was a simple one around the farm, now "it is more interactive", says Ms Wan, who graduated from the National University of Singapore.
For example, Ms Wan teaches primary school kids who join the tour the fine art of telling the difference between toads and frogs. There are also hands-on tours with live displays and demonstrations. For example, visitors will be able to hand-feed the frogs, learn how to differentiate between a male and female frog and see how frogs camouflage themselves in their natural environment.
Nothing gets her going more than receiving positive feedback from visitors who join the tours. "It is also great when the kids keep coming back to the farm for more," she says. Like some other farms in the area, the lease for Jurong Frog Farm will not be renewed. The farm will have to move in the next 21/2 years. "All we know for now is that we have to move. We don't know how big the new plot of land will be," says Ms Wan.
Naturally, she hopes to carry on running the farm. "But this will depend on how much capital is needed to rebuild the farm," she says.
Villas amid edible gardens: D'Kranji Farm Resort
How long does it take for a corn plant to be ready for harvesting? Ryan Ong, 22, director of D'Kranji Farm Resort, an agri-tainment farm would know. "It takes 65 days," he says, adding that a stalk of plant will have two ears of corn. There are about 9,000 stalks of corn on the farm resort, and Mr Ong himself participates in the harvesting. After harvesting, he helps chop the corn plants down. All this is done by hand, and Mr Ong can chop about 300 stalks in an hour. "The corn can be fed to animals. But we also sell it to restaurants within the resort," he says.
While most young people his age may be more comfortable working in an office in town, Mr Ong's office is out in ulu Lim Chu Kang area, amid five hectares of land.
At 16, he worked part-time at the farm resort, helping to plan events to draw the crowds in. After graduation, where he studied business management, Mr Ong returned to the company last year. D'Kranji Farm Resort is managed by HLH Group, of which Mr Ong's father, Johnny, is the executive deputy chairman.
As director, Mr Ong's role now is to ensure that operations run smoothly. At times, he is required to get his hands dirty, when he has to work out in the fields, sometimes ploughing the land. He is happy both out in the sun, and in the office. "I'm a hands-on person. I like to step into the mud, even in my office wear," he says. Walking past a greenhouse, Mr Ong proudly says that he installed pipes by hand, so that the plants can be automatically watered instead of relying on workers to do it.
The resort farm, at 10 Neo Tiew Lane 2, has Singapore's first and only drive-through check-in villas. There are 35 such villas. The company owns the villas, and also some fruit and vegetable plots. Produce that's grown include corn, ladies fingers, papaya, longan, guava, starfruit and rambutans, which are sold to the public.
There are other facilities in the resort, such as restaurants, a spa, beer garden, a swiftlet museum and a pond for prawn-fishing. These are all run by tenants.
Mr Ong works seven days a week. Half a work-day is spent in the office, while the other half is spent outdoors doing harvesting or planting.
Since he took over, he has increased villa sales by 150 per cent. In 2013, another 15 rooms were added, boosting the total to 35. The villas were refurbished, and sheltered walkways were added in. Occupancy rate is at 75 per cent.
With its off-the-track location, being at the resort affords visitors the feeling that they are no longer in Singapore. But unless you have a car, getting to the location can be a problem. "A lack of public transport is our biggest challenge," says Mr Ong. To entice more people to come to the area, the resort recently held a weekend farm fair which attracted about 2,000 visitors.
While the other farms in the Lim Chu Kang area have been told they'll need to move, the lease for the land on which the resort sits on only expires in 2027. "It is too far ahead to think about plans for the future," says Mr Ong.
Mr Ong's friends think that it is cool that he is a modern farmer. "They all want to come to work here as well, but they cannot do that yet, as they still have to go for National Service," he says.
Heeding the call of the sea: Tim's Farm
By Rachel Loi
TIMOTHY Hromatka begins his mornings just like any other parent: he wakes up early, washes up, and drops his two kids off at school. The rest of his day however, is a bit different - it involves driving to Lorong Halus, hopping onto his boat, and heading out to his kelong fish farm near Pulau Ubin.
"Back in Minnesota, people have cabins out on the lakes. Here, how do you get out of the city? You fly to another country, or for me, I go to my kelong," says Mr Hromatka, who came to Singapore in 1997, and is now a permanent resident.
He recalls how the sea "called out" to him five years ago, when he was working from home one day in his sea-facing HDB flat in Pasir Ris. "I thought. 'Wow, isn't that romantic?'" All those guys out there have such a high quality of life, I'd much rather be sitting out there," he says.
With that, he decided to apply for a licence with the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore, largely motivated by his roots in rearing sheep on a farm when he was growing up in Minnesota. He then spent the next six months out at sea, building his fish farm with little knowledge beyond a degree in biology and a master's in environmental management.
Now, Tim's Farm specialises in breeding organic-certified red snapper and sea bass (barramundi), and churns out about 30 tonnes of fish in a year. For retail, the barramundi are sold at S$15 per kg for whole fish and S$20 for two packs of two fillets, while his snapper will be sold at about S$20 per kg once they are mature.
His fish are fed a special fish feed made up of 50 per cent organic vegetable protein such as soyabean meal, rice and wheat flour, and 50 per cent sustainable ground-up fish meal - a recipe he made himself at a supplier in Thailand.
The fish feed is just part of his organic certification, says Mr Hromatka. The other parts include regular water tests, stocking the fish in low densities (he puts about 2,000 fish in about 100 cubic metres of water) so they aren't stressed, and not using chemicals such as antibiotics. "There's an analogy - at a conventional farm they spray, at an organic farm, we pray," Mr Hromatka says, laughing.
Of course, not everything is left to prayer, or the hand of Mother Nature. Instead, he has what he calls a "dirty net policy", and illustrates this by pulling up one of his fish nets and running his hand across a thick carpet of green algae. "One of the things about going organic is that I create a natural ecosystem by keeping the nets dirty and letting algae grow. Plus, I cultivate mussels in the net and around the whole farm - they help filter water and balance the carbon exchange," he explains.
Pointing to the water at two small moving shadows, Mr Hromatka adds that every net also has 120 "workers" that don't require levies or CPF contributions - lobsters, which he introduced to balance the ecosystem by eating barnacles and mussels.
"They aren't an automated net-washing machine or anything fancy like that, but it's just kind of going backwards and working with nature," says Mr Hromatka, who admits the industry is tough because it is capital-intensive. Still, he doesn't intend to change jobs anywhere in the near future.
"People come out here not to make a fortune - you go to the city for that. People come out here because of a lifestyle choice. The rule of thumb is if you last two years here, you're in it for life. Me, I've been here for five. You do the math," he says with a chuckle.
Reme Ahmad and Rennie Whang The Straits Times AsiaOne 23 Feb 15;
MALAYSIA'S biggest reclamation project is raising concerns over a potential oversupply of homes in Johor, marine environmental damage in the Strait of Johor and the effect it may have on the livelihood of hundreds of fishermen.
At Kampung Pok, tucked under the Second Link that connects Johor to Singapore, some residents are making known what they think of Chinese developer Country Garden's ambitious plan to raise four islands that total nearly three times the size of Sentosa at their doorstep.
The massive site will house thousands of luxury homes, if artists' impressions provided by the developer are any indication.
"Villagers protest that the route to Forest City passes through our area," reads a banner in Malay hung along the only road in the area.
Millions of tonnes of sand to shape the four islands will be transported by barges from eastern Johor. Lorries preparing for the mega project have already begun plying the narrow two-lane road in the village to the edge of the reclamation project.
"Why are they using our only road to do this? Everything is dusty and busy, and things will get worse," said villager Mohamad Zain.
The project is to resume at full speed after the Chinese New Year, now that the Department of Environment has given its go-ahead. That is likely to mean a clogged village road as trucks and vans deliver workers, bricks and metal bars, food and cement.
Acting village chief Abu Bakar Mohd Ali, who has a restaurant beside a jetty lined with fishing boats, said the project has caused unhappiness and uncertainty among fishermen and villagers, but he also sees it as "inevitable development catching up with the area".
The villages are bordered by mangrove swamps and the Strait of Johor on one side and hectares of mostly empty land in Nusajaya on the other. The edge of the Port of Tanjung Pelepas, Malaysia's biggest container port, is just 1km away.
"Sure, there are concerns about the environment and the future, but things have cooled down as the developer has talked to us," said Mr Abu Bakar.
Mr Abdul Malik Sabtu, head of the fishing community in southern Johor, said about 245 full-time fishermen received between RM3,000 (S$1,120) and RM6,200 last year through a government agency to compensate them for a drop in their earnings after reclamation work began last year.
"We have been affected, so the compensation has helped," Mr Abdul Malik said. "We don't know what the future holds."
The future, as gleaned from the rush of developers into the southern Johor investment zone Iskandar, is one of luxury homes in gated communities. The projects are targeted at the wealthy, including Singaporeans, and some units have been sold to buyers from China.
"With all the new projects, I don't think it will be as easy to get tenants as before," said a Singaporean resident of Causeway View, an estate just 600m from the Causeway. He had previously bought a condominium unit in Johor for RM250,000 and rented it out, but he has since sold it.
Recent changes to the vehicle entry permit, toll charges and the minimum property purchase price of RM1 million for foreigners are also a put-off, he added.
Statistics on the number of housing units coming up are not kept by a Johor or federal government agency, as building approvals are granted by the local authorities, such as the Johor Baru City Council and the Central Johor Baru Municipal Council.
A Malaysian real estate consultant said the JB authorities have approved the construction of 80,900 high-rise units, of which 8,000 are being built.
Mr Samuel Tan, executive director of KGV International Property Consultants, said about 90,000 units are expected to be built by 2017. "Many developers in the area are already pulling their brakes. Some may cancel their plans," he said.
The Forest City developers envision four islands totalling 1,386ha that will be joined by roads to one another and to mainland Johor. Artists' impressions on the website of the master developer, Country Garden Pacificview, show dozens of towers of luxury condominiums and landed houses.
The project is a partnership between China's Country Garden Holdings and a company linked to Johor's Sultan Ibrahim Ismail.
Country Garden's Danga Bay project had set off alarm bells over a potential glut of units when it launched a whopping 9,400 homes for sale in 2013. Since then, more Chinese developers have unveiled plans for mega projects.
On the JB side of the Causeway, China developer R&F Properties is reclaiming both sides of the Strait of Johor for its development.
The 47.1ha project offers what it calls a "hopsca" lifestyle - hotels, offices, parks, shopping malls, clubhouses and apartments. Dozens of tower blocks are being planned.
China's Greenland Group, which has a development in Danga Bay, recently announced another large project.
The Tebrau Bay Waterfront City in eastern JB is expected to be built partly on land already reclaimed at the mouths of two rivers. The first phase promises a snow world theme park, an opera house and a hospital specialising in traditional Chinese medicine.
However, Johor MP Liew Chin Tong from the opposition Democratic Action Party said: "There is already massive oversupply of high-end housing in Iskandar.
"This massive reclamation is going to accelerate the burst of the bubble... it doesn't make economic sense."
Two Malaysian developers with projects in southern Johor declined to comment on whether the large projects are building up to a glut. One said things still remain murky as developers of some coastal projects have not confirmed how many units they plan to launch.
The Star 24 Feb 15;
PETALING JAYA: There will be tighter enforcement against air polluters during the current hot and dry spell, said Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri G. Palanivel.
He said the authorities would go after those whose vehicles emitted excessive smoke, and who released dust from earthwork and smoke from industrial premises.
“With the current weather being hot and dry, I have directed the close monitoring of peat land, particularly in areas susceptible to fire. I also urge the public to refrain from carrying out any open burning,” he said in a statement.
Palanivel said landowners should also ensure their properties were not trespassed upon by irresponsible parties which could lead to open burning.
He called on public co-operation to put out small fires and report such incidents to the Fire and Rescue Department and the Department of Environment.
Malaysia is expected to experience hot and dry weather with low amount of rain until early April due to the equinox phenomenon, where the sun crosses directly over the Equator.
The Health Ministry advised the public to take extra precautionary measures against such weather which could affect water sources, resulting in increased cases of water-borne diseases, as well as their respiratory and cardiovascular health.
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