DID YOU KNOW THAT URBAN AGRICULTURE IS A BLOSSOMING CAREER AND FRUITFUL HOBBY FOR MANY?
Ever wondered how urban farming works in a city as densely populated as Singapore? Or how to kickstart your own urban gardening journey? Read on to find out more!
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Author: Isabel Liang
Urban agriculture has taken Singapore by storm- whether it’s urban farming for commercial purposes or urban gardening for personal reasons, just about everyone wants to hop into this field! Let us dig deep and see what interesting takes on urban farming has sprouted in Singapore!
Land is a finite, and hence extremely valuable resource especially in our Little Red Dot. Besides tapping into indoor and vertical farming, citizens have found brilliant ways to make use of the land and infrastructures, both in and out of use, to grow their produce! Did you know that the land Queenstown Remand Prison (yes, the one that housed Michael Fay) once stood on has been transformed into an 8000 square metre urban farm! Since its demolishment in 2010, the site remained disused, until 2017 when Edible Garden City (EGC) expanded its operations there. It now supplies produce to over 70 restaurants a week!
Additionally, rooftops have become popular spots for urban farming. After noticing all the unused spaces on rooftops going to waste, ComCrop’s co-founder Allan Lim decided to make a difference. The company has since become Singapore’s first and only commercial rooftop farming company and has popularised the use of rooftops for urban farming. Using water-based mineral nutrient solutions, natural sunlight, a mobile gulley system and an automated farming system, ComCrop is able to grow and harvest crops organically in limited spaces and with less manpower in their hydroponic greenhouses. As of 2023, ComCrop produces about 300,000kg of crops a year and plays an important role in defending Singapore’s food security!
Besides ComCrop, other individuals are trying out rooftop farming. In 2021, three bidders won the right to rent urban farming sites on the roofs of 7 multi-storey carparks and are expected to produce 616,886kg of produce! That’s the mass of about 3,626,672 tomatoes! How cool is that?!
Community gardening amongst residential areas has also increasingly become popular with communities around Singapore. One notable community garden where the residents’ efforts have borne fruit (literally), is the one situated at Boon Lay Avenue’s Multi-storey carpark Blk 183A. There, residents have grown a large variety of fruits and vegetables, including luffa, taro, and bitter gourd. In February of 2023, residents harvested a whopping 60 sugarcanes that grew over 8 months. These sugarcanes were shared with the community and underprivileged residents in the neighbourhood.
Urban farming is for everyone!
Urban farming is truly for everyone and anyone! Did you know that the inmates at Drug Rehabilitation Centre (DRC) have their own urban farm? Since May 2018, batches of inmates at DRC housed within Institution B5 have attended weekly workshops to learn everything under the sun about urban farming - from the basics like the types of soil mixtures to use, to technical skills like transplanting saplings. The prison uses vertical racks to stack and store the plants, as well as ultraviolet light fixtures substituting for sunlight. The inmates now grow a wide range of plants, from vegetables such as spinach and lady’s finger, to herbs like dogfennel and mint!
Additionally, both EGC and ComCrop actively employs the socially disadvantaged and marginalised communities in Singapore, including the elderly, persons with disabilities, and persons with special needs. This just goes to show how working with plants can be a meaningful and productive venture, and is an accessible platform for the community to come together and bond with one another!
Have a green thumb and want to try growing your own produce sustainably too? Here’s how!
Prepare some nitrogen-rich waste such as grass clipping, leftover vegetables, and unwanted fruit peels. Next, prepare some carbon-rich waste such as cardboard and woody stems. Get a bin and add in your nitrogen-rich and carbon-rich waste to a ratio of 1:1. Add some earthworms to the mixture; they will consume it, speeding up the rate it decomposes at, and the waste excreted will make great fertilisers for your plants! Placing the bin under sunlight and turning over the compost can speed up the process too, but do remember to keep it out of the rain! When the mixture turns browns and crumbly, the process is complete!
Ideally your pot should be porous. Terracotta pots and wood planters will dry the moisture in the soil faster than pot made of metal and plastic. This reduces the risk of your plants getting root rot. The porosity of clay also gives your plants’ roots access to air, allowing them to breathe. Additionally, your pot should have holes at the bottom to allow for good drainage. Lining the bottom of the pot with lava rocks will also improve the soil’s drainage!
You may have played FarmVille on Facebook and are excited to bring all the virtual crops you’ve grown to life, but do choose what you want to grow wisely! One of the easiest fruits to grow in Singapore is the chilli! It takes about 14 days to germinate and 105 to 133 days to be ready for harvest. Vegetables such as long bean and cucumber can be grown too! While long beans take between 3 and 5 days to germinate, and about 49 days to be ready for harvest, cucumbers take about 3 days to germinate and 100 to 140 days to be ready for harvest. Keeping these plants under direct sunlight and allowing the top inch of the soil to dry between waterings will aid their growth.
Urban agriculture has truly rooted itself in the hearts and minds of people from all walks of life, offering a safe space for everyone to grow mentally and physically. Whether you’re aspiring to start a career in horticulture or are looking to be a plant hobbyist, good luck! I’m rooting for you!
Share these unbeleafably cool facts about urban agriculture with your best buds and family and look as sharp as a cactus, today!
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