Source: Cheng (1995)

The North is currently the least developed region [?] of Singapore. Of its seven constituent areas, only Woodlands and Yishun boast HDB New Towns. The average literacy rate [?] in the northern region in 1990 was 90.9 percent, compared to the national average of 90.0 percent. Population density in Woodlands and Yishun is between 5000 to 10000 people per square kilometre and between 10000 and 20000 people per square kilometre respectively. Elsewhere it is generally less than 5000 people per square kilometre, especially in Lim Chu Kang and Sungei Kadut. The latter instead has a thriving sawmilling and wood-based industry, in close proximity to the source of raw material, namely Peninsular Malaysia.

Because of its relatively lower population densities, at least three ecologically noteworthy areas can be found in the North, namely the Singapore Zoological Gardens (described by Sir Peter Scott as "one of the really beautiful zoos, of which there are all too few"),

the Night Safari

and Sungei Buloh Nature Park.

All three are playing their part with respect to the protection and nurturing of rare and endangered flora and fauna. For example, Sungei Buloh was designated a nature park in 1989. Eighty-seven hectares in size, it consists of mudflats, ponds, mangroves and orchards. It is a feeding and resting site for migratory birds such as egrets from September to March. Similarly, even before the Night Safari officially opened in May 1994, eighteen of the forty-three endangered species there had produced offspring, among them the Indian barasingha and the tapir.

It is also in the north that most of Singapore's six agrotechnology parks [?] are found. These parks house five hundred farms and will be fully developed by 2000. The vegetables, orchids, aquatic and ornamental plants, ornamental and food fish, eggs, ducks, milk, crocodiles and birds which these parks produce were worth $229 million in 1995.

The area basically sits on granite, except for Lim Chu Kang which is on Old Alluvium. From October to March it receives 165 mm to 200 mm per month of rain on average, from April to September, the figures are 150 mm to 165 mm per month.

However, none of this makes any difference to the farmers in the area because the main type of agriculture they practise is known as hydroponics. This is an intensive farming technique, where vegetables is cultivated in nethouses under artificial lighting and without soil. The plants are grown in a nutrient solution made of dissolved fertilizers.

Apart from the obvious advantages of being more or less independent of climate [?], hydroponics also produces vegetables which mature faster - for example, kangkong, which usually takes twenty-five days to harvest, takes only seventeen at a hydroponic farm. Because of the intensive use of the land [?], the method takes less labour [?] and less space. Finally, there is more control over standards of hygiene and nutrition.

The farmers lease the land from the government for a period of about twenty years. For most, this will bring them to the year 2010 or so. As can be expected, labour is not easy to come by, for the workers have to put in eight to ten hours a day, starting from seven in the morning, either under the hot sun, or in a humid nethouse.

Of the hydroponic farms in Singapore, one of the most well known is Singtai in Sembawang, which cost its owners $1.5 million to set up. It covers 2.6 hectares, and produces in excess of forty thousand kilograms of vegetables a month. Sixty-five percent of its produce is consumed locally - two vans take the produce to supermarkets four times daily - the rest is sold to Malaysia and Brunei.

Singtai's main inputs are seeds, which are imported from Japan, Taiwan, Australia and the Netherlands (they cost as much as $15.50 per gram); its land rent [?] ($3000 to $4000 monthly) and its fertilizers (ranging from magnesium sulphate - $450 per ton - to potassium phosphate - $2600 per ton).

Singapore's first herb farm also uses hydroponics. The 2.6 hectare Oh Chin Huat farm at Sembawang produces basil, dill and curry leaf, among others. The daily harvest of thirty kilogrammes is sold to supermarkets and restaurants. It started as a $2.2 million research project partly funded by the National Science and Technology Board.

Elsewhere in the north, at Lim Chu Kang, a 5.6 hectare plot of land is the site of Singapore's first aeroponic farm, run by Aero-Green. It is also the first in Asia to use aeroponics for large-scale vegetable production. Aeroponics refers to the growing of temperate crops (such as Butter Head, Canasta and Dresser lettuces, kailan and dwarf cabbage) in a tropical climate, by suspending the roots in the air.

The seedlings are planted in troughs made of styrofoam with their roots beneath an insulating cover. The air is cooled to simulate temperate conditions. Nutrients dissolved in water are sprayed onto the roots. This method differs from hydroponics in the sense that in the latter, the roots are submerged, not exposed.

The development of the technology for commercial use was done by the Nanyang Technological University, The Primary Production Department (PPD) and the PSB. Already the farm is producing 900 kg of temperate crops daily. By August 1997, it hopes to increase that figure to more than 3000 kg.

The advantages of aeroponics over conventional agriculture are similar to those of hydroponics. First, the vegetables reach the market fresh. This is because normally, in the five days it takes for temperate vegetables to be imported from Australia, the Netherlands and Hong Kong, they might spoil. Second, the aeroponic vegetables are likely to be twenty percent cheaper as they need not be air-flown.

Third, the vegetables are pesticide-free because fine netting is used to protect the seedlings, while still allowing air to circulate. In fact, they have a higher calcium, potassium and iron content. Fourth, less water is needed than in conventional practices. For example, water from a single hundred-litre tank can be used for up to five hundred plants. Finally, the plants grow faster because conditions can be controlled.

The first harvest was in June 1996, and the farm cost $5 million to build. The produce is sold at supermarkets, wet-markets and restaurants. The greens will eventually be exported, for example to the Middle East.

Also in Lim Chu Kang will be an agribiotech park, which will house companies involved in the production of vaccines, diagnostic agents, seeds, seedlings and fermentation products. Occupying ten hectares and ready by the end of 1998, it will complement the Institute of Molecular Agrobiology (IMA). The PPD will develop the infrastructure within the park, upon which land will be leased to tenants to build their own facilities. The PPD hopes to attract multinationals and joint ventures to form a cluster of agribiotech companies. Such companies will commercialize the R&D; work carried out at the IMA.

As a fourth case study of agriculture in Singapore, one can look at Seng Choon Egg Farm in Sungei Tengah Agrotechnology Park. Set up in 1987 at a cost of $8 million, this is the leading egg producer in Singapore. Seng Choon is an extremely capital intensive [?] operation - only ten people look after 380000 layers (egg-laying hens), which lay 290000 eggs daily.

This ninety percent reduction in a typical workforce is made possible by using automatic feedings and drinking systems and egg collection, artificial lighting (which comes on at 0400 hrs daily) and a computerised feedmill. The layers are fed five times a day, and the feed is blended by computer so that the eggs' nutritional profile can be controlled. For example, Seng Choon eggs have twenty percent less cholesterol than normal eggs, and are sold at a ten percent premium. It is therefore not surprising that feedmeal comprises seventy percent of running costs at Seng Choon.

The chicks are imported from Indonesia, and after eighteen months, the mature layers are exported to Malaysia for processing. The seven major layer farms in Singapore produce 900000 eggs daily, or eighty percent of local consumption (the rest is imported from Malaysia).

Hay Dairies - our only commercial goat farm - has been supplying 200 to 300 litres of fresh milk daily from a two-hectare plot at Lim Chu Kang Lane 4 since 1996. Built at a cost of a million dollars, the farm is a five-man operation, with five hundred goats. The home-delivery business is now expanding into yoghurt, ice-cream and cheese for health-food stores. Every morning, the goats are taken in groups of twelve to the milking parlour, where vacuum pumps are attached to the teats (at the same time, the goats are fed Australian alfafa and Malaysian feed pellets). The milk travels via stainless steel pipes to filters. It is then chilled to four degrees Celsius to preserve the freshness. When enough has been collected, the tank is pasteurised (by heating it to 72.5 degrees for fifteen seconds), then bottled and chilled again. Even the van used for delivering the milk can keep it chilled. Thirty percent of the milk is fed to kid goats, who drink mother's milk for the first two weeks of their lives. Subsequently, they are fed a milk formula.

In the next thirty years or so, the North will see some rather significant urban and industrial development. For example, by AD 2000, Woodlands will be a Regional Centre [?]. Sembawang and Simpang housing estates will have been developed. The latter will offer waterfront housing. The northeast technology corridor [?], comprising business parks [?] at Yishun, Seletar and Tampines, will also have been initiated.

Woodlands North will be opened up for high-tech, value-added industry (for example, thirty-six hectares of wafer fabrication plants - which produce silicon wafers from which semi-conductor chips are cut), while industries involved in food processing, engineering and steel fabrication would have been relocated.

Semi-conductor manufacturers and their support industries, such as specialty gas manufacturers and ultrapure chemical makers, are being actively wooed by Singapore because the value-added per worker per year for this industry can be as high as $600000. This compares to only $80000 for workers in the test and assembly industry. Each fabrication plant will employ up to 1500 workers, at least half of whom will be engineers. Similarly, semi-conductors alone contributed $8.25 billion to the electronics industry here in 1994.

As more wafer fabrication plants are set up (sufficient space has been set aside for twenty-five plants by 2005), ancillary industries, such as those specializing in instrumentation and testing, will be attracted to invest in Singapore too. However, because so much is at stake, our neighbours are also competing to attract wafer fabrication to their shores.

Hoping to attract further investment from multinationals already here, the EDB has fought back with a comprehensive suite of tax holidays, training schemes, capital [?] assistance and joint ventures. An example is Tech Semiconductor, which is a $462 million venture between Texas Instruments, Canon, Hewlett-Packard and the EDB.

In addition to external competition, Singapore's high land and labour costs and relative lack of sufficient reserves of water poses a question mark to the industry's future here. Water is used in large quantities as a cleaning agent in the production of wafers. Some plants consume as much as five hundred Olympic-size swimming pools of water per year. Just four wafer fabrication plants consume as much water daily as the entire capacity of the Upper Seletar reservoir. To combat this problem, the government has recently embarked on an aggressive water recycling programme.

By 2010, an LRT system will connect Yishun with Tampines, via Seletar. By Year X, there will be public housing at both Lim Chu Kang and Sungei Kadut. The former will also be used for industry, while there will be a business park [?] at the latter.