Vending machines selling local veggies under $2 to be rolled out; support for fish farms to scale up

“We needed to create our own supply line. Trying to feed local produce into the import line is very tough,” said Cheong.

Selling through vending machines could also be an option for smaller high-tech farms that struggle to enter physical retail stores, he pointed out.

In July, The Straits Times reported that local vegetables from at least three farms here would no longer be available in FairPrice supermarkets.

The SAFEF reception was attended by its new patron, Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu, who said: “We want to see more certain offtake (for farms). We want to see more channels, whether it is hotels and restaurants, hospitals and pre-schools.”

Eyeing the big fish

Under SAFEF’s direction, four fish farms off Pasir Ris recently banded together to produce and sell premium fish like pompano, also known as golden pomfret, and red snapper that can weigh up to 4kg.

Having created a market for tilapia, smaller sea bass and vannamei shrimp, the federation is now eyeing the East Johor Strait – where more fish species are grown – to scale up the sale of bigger fish that can command higher prices.

Restaurants, hotels and other food and beverage businesses prefer bigger fillet chunks to cook with, and large fish to serve at buffets, said Cheong.

The farms involved in this initiative are Smith Marine, which mainly farms pompano, De Kelong, which mainly produces red snapper, Tropical Mariculture and Ah Hua Kelong.

Forming a coalition helps the farms secure better-quality eggs and sustain demand. By working together, they can increase their bargaining power when importing pompano eggs from suppliers in Taiwan and China, Cheong added.

When a small farm sources eggs from a supplier, it tends to receive lower-quality eggs that take longer to grow. Better-quality eggs are saved for larger customers.

Smith Marine has started distributing some juvenile pompano to the other farms. They aim to start importing the fish eggs from early 2027.

Each farm’s biggest challenge has been to secure steady demand so that its fish can be consistently sold, Cheong noted.

By working as a group, the farms can ensure a steady supply to the buyer: If one farm runs out of fish to harvest, another can take over, as long as each farm staggers the fish-growing cycle.

“If we have a steady supply of fish, we can stabilise a price. With a stable price, we will likely attract more long-term buyers,” he added.

SAFEF has priced local pompano at no more than 20% above imported ones.

Smith Marine owner Ong Jong Yang said that his sales tend to be inconsistent throughout the year. Each month, he sells an average of two to three tonnes of fish.

Chris Lur of Tropical Mariculture chimed in: “I’ve been dumping my CPF into the sea.”

But they are positive that the collaboration with SAFEF will turn the tide.

Ong said: “We hope to gain confidence to make longer-term business plans for the farms.”

Currently, only the jumbo-sized red snapper has reached the market, with SAFEF having entered into a deal with cold chain distributor Pan Ocean Singapore.

But it takes three years to rear a 3kg red snapper and relying on this alone cannot sustain a farming business. Pan Ocean has been selling the red snapper to at least two to three customers, including restaurants.

While pompano, which takes eight months to grow to a harvest size of 800g, will remain the farms’ bread-and-butter, SAFEF wants to ramp up the farming of larger Asian sea bass, also known as barramundi, which can reach 3kg in 1½ to two years.

Many farms have been reluctant to rear the disease-prone fish for that long, as prolonged time in the water exposes them to fatal diseases such as the scale drop disease virus. To limit losses, they harvest the fish at a smaller, dish-sized weight of about 800g.

In 2023, Barramundi Group gave up deep-sea farming in the southern waters of Singapore after a fish virus outbreak.

But recently, vaccines against the disease have become available, and SAFEF is in talks with a few companies to acquire them for the farms.

From early 2027, young sea bass will be obtained from the Singapore Food Agency’s Marine Aquaculture Centre – where local sea bass eggs are produced – before being vaccinated and reared on the farms.