Singapore has a very small part of Singapore's GDP formed agriculture. To capitalize on the limited land dedicated for agriculture, Singapore’s Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority (AVA) took place mostly in the countryside of Singapore, where farms can be found, namely Lim Chu Kang, Murai, Sungei Tengah, Nee Soon, Mandai, and Loyang. The six locations are well-known as the agrotechnology parks in Singapore. This is a step to increase agriculture output within limited resources by turning towards agro technology practices.
Agrotechnology Parks is one of solution for an amalgamation of modern technology and intensive farming practices developed with the sophisticated infrastructure for farming to yield better output. Life sciences play a massive role in increasing produce via agrotechnology. These agriculture parks have a total land area of 1,465 hectares. Close to 600 hectares have been allocated to over 200 farms to produce livestock, eggs, milk, aquarium and food fish, vegetables, fruits, orchids, ornamental and aquatic plants, and breeding of birds and dogs.
The Agrotechnology Parks house modern farms that develop, adapt and showcase advanced technologies and techniques for:
- intensive farming system
- export of high value and quality products and services to other countries in the region
Having very little agricultural land and the need to maximise output from Singapore’s limited domestic food production led our move towards agrotechnology – the application of modern technology and life sciences to intensive farming systems.
To improve the situation of agriculture produce AVA in 1986, took some giant steps in capitalizing resources by launching 3 components in Agro technology Programme. This included - development of Agrotechnology parks which would allow house intensive farming with contemporary technology practices. Apart from investing in agro technology, AVA also laid great deal of stress on agri-biotechnology (knowledge of agriculture and molecular biology applied to large-scale and intensive farming). AVA also clearly charted the plan development & promotion of investments in the Agri-industry to drive better and sustainable growth.
AVA Technical & R&D Centres
Providing technical assistance to the local farming industry, these centres help improve the quality of produce and enhance overall productivity.
The centres are:
- Aquaculture Services Centre
- Horticulture Services Centre
- Marine Aquaculture Centre
Agri-Bio Park
To develop Singapore as a centre of excellence in tropical agrotechnology services, we have developed an Agri-biotechnology cluster in the Agri-Bio Park (ABP).
Lots of 1-hectare land have been allocated on 30-year leases for agri-biotechnology activities such as:
- research and development in fish vaccines
- food safety and animal and plant health testing
- post-harvest technology activities
- AVA Veterinary Public Health Centre
- AVA Animal & Plant Health Centre
- Marine Fisheries Research Department of the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Centre