October 12, 2010

Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority doubles Food Fund to SGD10 million

Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority (AVA) has doubled the size of its Food Fund from the initial sum of SGD5 million (US$3.81 million) to SGD10 million (US$7.65 million), as part of the government's efforts to strengthen Singapore's food supply resilience.

The Food Fund was launched in December 2009 with the aim to bolster food diversification and local farming to ensure safe and secure food supply for the country.

A total of 11 local farms ranging from poultry producers to fish farmers, out of the 48 applicants, have received AVA's funding on various projects including farm capability upgrading (eight farms), research and development (two farms), and food diversification (one farm).

AVA said another 11 projects have been approved and are pending acceptance.

Aside from the food fund, AVA has also implemented several initiatives to facilitate source diversification.

This includes the signing of an agreement with Jilin city in May to establish and maintain a Foot-and-Mouth Disease Free Zone (DFZ) in Jilin.

This will facilitate a resilient supply of safe and high quality food, starting with pork and pork products, to Singapore.

A technical working group has been formed to provide technical advice and to monitor and review the progress of the DFZ development.