Vertical Farming: Singapore’s Solution to Feed the Local Urban Population
Ravindra Krishnamurthy Send an emailJuly 25, 2014
17 4 minutes read
Sky Greens’ vertical farm
Introduction
The wealthy island city of Singapore with an area of 710 square km and a population of 5 million, is one of the most densely populated cities in the world. With most parts of the island’s land utilized for urban development, the remaining 250 acres of farmland is hardly sufficient to feed the growing population. As a consequence, more than 90 percent of Singapore’s food consumption is met by imports from over 30 countries. This dependency on the external world makes the country highly vulnerable to turbulence in food supply and prices.
The only way out of this problem is to maximize the use of land for food production. For the island of Singapore, where real estate is at a premium and the land rates are exceptionally high, the only viable option is to go vertical to make the island more self-sufficient in food.
Image Courtesy MNDSingapore