MPs to push for food resilience in Parliament as prices rise due to climate, geopolitical crises

SINGAPORE – Strengthening support for local farmers and reducing food waste in Singapore will be part of a sweeping proposal to enhance food security put before Parliament next week, amid rising food prices caused by hotter weather and Middle East conflicts.

The private member’s motion on food resilience by four PAP MPs will urge the government to enhance food resilience and reduce food waste by working with partners, so as to ensure that Singaporeans will have access to affordable food despite geopolitical uncertainties and climate risks.

The MPs behind the motion are from the Government Parliamentary Committee for Sustainability and the Environment. They comprise committee chair Poh Li San (Sembawang West), co-chair Nadia Ahmad Samdin (Ang Mo Kio GRC), Valerie Lee (Pasir Ris-Changi GRC) and Ng Shi Xuan (Sembawang GRC).

Speaking at a media briefing on the motion on Sept 2, the MPs said they will also be raising ideas to improve food waste management and strengthen supply chain resilience during the parliamentary sitting. They will also discuss ways to support the alternative protein industry and opportunities for young Singaporeans in food technology and production.

Singapore adopts a number of measures to safeguard its food security.

This includes diversifying imports from a range of sources, stockpiling food items like rice and frozen meat, locally producing certain food types such as vegetables and seafood, and securing international partnerships to ensure food supplies can flow even during a crisis.

Said Poh: “(Food resilience) is something that concerns all Singaporeans. It concerns our future generations because if we don’t set things right at the beginning, then things may get worse and worse.”

She said the motion draws on feedback gathered in May and July from more than 130 people, including community gardeners, academics and food rescue organisations. The committee also spoke to fish farmers and visited a local vegetable farm Green Harvest to understand how their struggles could be raised in Parliament.

On food waste, Poh said it is ironic that Singapore produces less than 10 per cent of its food while importing the rest, yet generated some 800,000 tonnes of food waste in 2025.

That translates to an average of about 130kg of food wasted by each person.

For context, Singapore produced 16,600 tonnes of vegetables and 3,800 tonnes of seafood domestically in 2025, so the amount of food wasted far outstrips the local production of these items.

Food waste also accounted for about 11 per cent of the total waste generated here in 2025, with the figure creeping upwards since 2023.

There have already been policies enacted to reduce food waste, such as the

Good Samaritan Food Donation Act

passed in 2024 to allow businesses to donate unsold or excess food without fear of liability.

But

Poh

said

that through conversations with p

eople involved in initiatives

like The Food Bank Singapore and Food Rescue Sengkang, she found that 2.4 million kg of food is rescued annually.

This amounts to just 0.3 per cent of the food waste generated.

Poh, plans to press for greater coordination with the food re-distribution ecosystem, such as by asking for more support for apps that connect partners producing food waste.

To help the Government better target its efforts, the MPs plan to ask that food lost before consumption be distinguished from food thrown away after consumption, so there can be solutions targeted at the root causes for the wastage. For example, food waste that arises from spoilage can be prevented with a refrigerator.

Tackling food waste properly by recycling them into animal feed or fertilisers could also help local farms cope with rising costs, said Poh.

In March, Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu noted that disruptions to the Strait of Hormuz could impact the cost of logistics as well as agriculture and farming of livestock. About a third of the world’s fertilisers transit through the Strait of Hormuz.

The motion also follows the launch of a refreshed plan for Singapore’s food security, after a “30 by 30” goal of producing 30 per cent of the country’s nutritional needs locally by 2030 was dropped.

That target, set in 2019, was revised amid a flagging local agricultural sector and declining production volumes over the years, despite millions being pumped into grants to boost supply.

According to budget documents, $12.29 million was allocated to developing the local aquaculture sector in the financial year 2023/2024, a figure that rose to $28.67 million in the financial year 2025/2026.

In 2026, the Ministry for Sustainability and the Environment announced a $70 million top-up to the Agri-Food Cluster Transformation (ACT) Fund, which is meant to help farms upgrade, as well as an expansion of its scope to help farms forge partnerships that benefit the industry.

Straits Times checks showed that some farms which have received governmental support have closed.

Of the $55 million awarded to 60 companies under the first tranche of the ACT Fund, first launched in 2021 to help local farms upgrade, two have folded. This was revealed by then-Senior Minister of State for Sustainability and the Environment Zaqy Mohamad in Parliament in his response to Nadia, who had asked for details of unsuccessful projects.

During the Covid-19 pandemic when food supply from some countries were affected due to various restrictions, the Government launched a separate “30x30 Express” grant to rapidly ramp up production. ST checks showed that out of the nine farms reported by local media to have been offered nearly $40 million in grants under the fund, four have since closed. These are &ever, Indoor Farm Factory Innovation, LivFresh and Growy.

Nadia said she will also raise the issue of how the Government can help local farmers remain resilient in the uncertain climate such as by addressing the high energy costs.

Such costs have caused several high-tech vertical farms to shut down or file for liquidation.

Nadia said the committee hopes that as Singapore assumes chairmanship of ASEAN in 2027, food resilience, food security and better sharing of climate knowledge will be on the agenda.