DPM Gan Kim Yong at the Singapore International Agri-Food Week 2024

Excellencies,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen,

Good evening.

Thank you for inviting me to join you for the welcome reception of the Singapore International Agri-Food Week (SIAW). Since its launch in 2021, the SIAW has become a flagship event where global industry leaders, policymakers, innovators, academia and investors gather to exchange knowledge and network. The SIAW serves as a valuable platform to forge new partnerships in agri-food technology development across the region, and shape the future of the agri-food industry.

Today, about 60% of the world’s population lives in Asia, and that number is expected to grow from 4.8 billion to 5.3 billion by 2050. Our food needs will grow in tandem. While Asia is a major food producer - for example, in rice production, which accounts for about 90% of global rice production - we are still largely dependent on imports for our food needs. At the same time, the agricultural sector remains a key contributor to the GDP of many Asian countries, such as Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Pakistan and Nepal. It is therefore important for Asia to safeguard its food production capabilities, not only to cater to the food needs of its populations, but also to provide for their livelihoods.

However, the advent of climate change will make this more challenging in the years ahead.

Innovation is key to scaling up Asia’s food production and to mitigate against the potential impact of climate change on yields. For example, precision farming technologies can reduce resource use while maximising yields. The implementation of precision irrigation and climate-smart agriculture practices in Vietnam has improved rice yields by 10 - 15% and reduced water use by 25%. Genetic innovation can also create crop varieties that are more resilient to drought and pests. For example, rice varieties developed with CRISPR have shown 20 - 30% higher yields, even under drought conditions in field tests. Alternative proteins, such as plant-based products, cultivated meat or protein derived from fermentation, are nascent, and we will need further innovation to scale and reduce cost of production, and to increase consumer acceptance.

Here in Singapore, we also want to drive innovation in the agri-food sector to strengthen our food security. We also want to diversify our food supplies, in terms of our sources of supply, as well as our food types, such as various protein and fibre options, as well as forms, such as chilled or frozen food. At the same time, we must continue to invest in local food production to give us an added layer of resilience, in the event of overseas supply disruptions. We are therefore working towards building up our agri-food industry’s capability and capacity, so that our local farms can grow more food with fewer resources sustainably. In this regard, science, technology and innovation are key enablers for local farms to raise productivity, lower the cost of production, and improve the safety and quality of our local produce. In time, these breakthroughs can also benefit the region and the world, to boost food output, productivity and resilience.

Over the past five years, we have built up a strong ecosystem to support the growth of our agri-food sector, especially in agri-tech. We have established world-leading capabilities at our Institutes of Higher Learning and Research Institutes within the agri-food domains. For example, the Bezos Centre for Sustainable Protein at the National University of Singapore was launched in September this year with a US$30 million grant from the Bezos Earth Fund. It is the first of its kind in Asia to advance research in alternative proteins and support commercialisation efforts, and the Centre will form a global network with other Bezos Centres at Imperial College London in the United Kingdom and North Carolina State University in the United States.

We have built up a number of globally-leading accelerators to help start-ups pilot, testbed and commercialise innovative agri-food products. Some examples of such accelerators include Big Idea Ventures and GROW.

We have a good base of venture capital initiatives to support companies in their growth journey. These range from global venture capital firms to international corporations such as Thai Union, and to government-linked investment arms such as SEEDS Capital and the New Ventures arm of the Economic Development Board.

We have also established specialised facilities to support both innovation and commercialisation. One such facility is Nurasa’s Food Tech Innovation Centre (FTIC), which opened earlier this year. Spanning close to 4,000 square metres, this food-grade facility has laboratories with advanced capabilities in precision fermentation and food processing. The FTIC also provides collaborative workspaces to bring together industry partners, portfolio companies and joint ventures such as ScaleUp Bio and Cremer to encourage co-creation and innovation across the value chain.

To nurture a pipeline of local talent, our universities have established programmes on urban farming technology. For example, together with The Good Food Institute Asia Pacific, a global non-profit organisation that works to accelerate alternative protein innovation, the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) had launched a university course to equip its students with expertise and knowledge on alternative proteins and cultivated meat.This course will help develop local talent for the alternative meats sector in Singapore, especially as regional appetite for plant-based meat and other alternative proteins grows.

Besides the initiatives I had mentioned, the Singapore government has also invested in R&D to support research and innovation in urban agriculture, aquaculture, future foods and food safety. Tonight, I am pleased to announce that over $40 million will be awarded to 12 promising initiatives under the second phase of the Singapore Food Story R&D Programme. This is in addition to the $144 million that was awarded in the first phase.

Four projects will be awarded under the “Future Foods Grant Call on Process Development”, which seeks to uncover new solutions to lower production costs and improve the future manufacturing of alternative proteins. For example, a team from the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) will be developing a low-cost culture media as well as cost-effective scalable manufacturing processes to lower the production costs of cultured meat, and enable greater economies of scale.

Two projects will be awarded under the ‘Seed’ grant, and another five projects will be awarded under the ‘Research Translation’ grant, which supports early-stage R&D and translational R&D, respectively. One of the projects which will be awarded the ‘Seed’ grant is led by a team from the National University of Singapore (NUS), which aims to develop a genome editing platform to generate seeds with superior traits for controlled environment agriculture. This will contribute to yield improvement in local urban farms. Another project which will be awarded under the ‘Research Translation’ grant is led by a team from the Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory, which aims to develop innovative solutions - such as non-lethal heat shock and functional feed - to enhance the disease resilience of seafood like barramundi and shrimp. These effective disease management tools will allow farmers to improve yield and produce more fish and shrimps that are of better quality, and hopefully, more tasty.

Last but not least, I am glad to share that the Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise (CREATE) has launched a programme on indoor farming systems earlier this year, with Wageningen University and Research, and NTU. In addition to developing an innovative bioengineering approach to enhance plant traits for indoor farming, this programme will also design a system for controlled environment agriculture for tropical conditions. In turn, these innovations can improve crop growth and energy efficiency.

As we push the frontiers of innovation, we must ensure that our regulatory environment is pragmatic, balanced and forward-thinking.

While new food sources and production systems are relatively nascent now, it could potentially address global food security challenges in a more sustainable way over the long term. For instance, alternative proteins such as cultivated meat and proteins derived from fermentation may be produced with relatively smaller amounts of land and labour.

However, there are unique challenges and important questions about safety and regulation. Regulators from around the world will need to work together to address food safety concerns associated with advances in food science and technology, without hindering innovation and progress.

I am happy to share that the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) is developing new proposals at the Codex Alimentarius Commission to standardise the safety assessment of cultivated meat production. With such international guidelines, we can streamline regulatory approvals and enhance consumer confidence in the safety of cultivated meat. I urge fellow food regulators here tonight to support the SFA in this endeavour.

Conclusion

In closing, I would like to thank SFA and Temasek for organising this reception, and bringing together regulators, entrepreneurs, companies and industry from across the value chain to share knowledge and insights into how we can scale innovation in Asia’s agri-food sector.

Together, we can explore opportunities, discover new solutions, and forge a sustainable, resilient, and food-secure future for Asia and the rest of the world

Thank you, and I wish you a pleasant evening ahead.