It is important for to raise the productivity and capability of our farms to maximise the limited land and sea space that is used for local farming. The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) is stepping up efforts to help local fish farms increase productivity to meet Singapore’s target of 15 per cent of fish consumed locally.
Assisting Local Coastal Fish Farms to Up Production There are currently 111 fish farms in Singapore. Of these, 95 are coastal farms and the other 16 comprise of deep sea farms, hatcheries, industrial-scale farms and oyster/shellfish farms. These farms produce about four per cent of our total fish consumption in total.
As part of AVA’s licensing conditions for coastal fish farms, the farms are required to meet a minimum production target of 17 tonnes of fish per half-hectare space annually. Of the 95 coastal farms, 23 are currently producing more than the minimum production level of 17 tonnes. 10 are producing between 8.5 and 17 tonnes, while another 36 are producing at below 8.5 tonnes. The remaining 26 farms are new farms or farms which had undergone a recent change of ownership.
Chief Executive Officer of AVA, Ms Tan Poh Hong said: “AVA will work closely with the farmers who are not meeting the minimum production target, to help them improve their productivity. Specifically we will help them identify gaps that hinder production and develop improvement plans.” Farmers will also be encouraged to leverage on AVA’s Food Fund to improve farming technology and upgrade production capability.
Over the next few months, AVA will be visiting every fish farm to understand the farmers’ needs so that we can better assist them in developing progress plans towards achieving the minimum production targets.
