Johor’s land an advantage for modern agriculture for S’pore companies: Onn Hafiz

SINGAPORE – Johor has the advantage of being Singapore’s closest neighbour in providing an investment-friendly atmosphere and infrastructure, as well as land dedicated to modern agriculture, said its Chief Minister Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi.

Onn Hafiz is currently on a three-day official visit to Singapore starting last Sunday, which aims to further enhance the good relations between the republic and the state of Johor.

Through a post on his Facebook page, he said his visit continues with a briefing from the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) on Singapore’s food safety initiative, as well as food producer Archisen.

“The issue of food security is one of the important issues in Johor, and I hope that the state can cooperate with Singapore in the production of local fresh food products, in addition to policies regarding the continuity of food supply,” he wrote. He appended his post with several photos of his meetings with the representatives as well.

Onn Hafiz also visited the National Centre for Food Science, which is the basis of SFA’s integrated food security programme, and listened to a briefing on their food security development strategy – Three food baskets: diversify import sources, grow local, and grow overseas.

He then paid a visit to Archisen, a company that is the result of their “grow local” programme, which operates one of the indoor farms with the highest yield in Singapore with a projected yield of up to 100 tons of vegetables per year.

“It is common knowledge that Singapore is ranked first in the world in the global food security index for the second consecutive year in 2019, although Singapore obtains more than 90% of its food from more than 170 countries and territories, including Malaysia, especially from Johor.

“Johor is also the main exporter of agricultural products to Singapore such as fruits, chicken, vegetables, and so on,” he wrote.

The chief minister believes that with Johor’s advantage as Singapore’s closest neighbour in providing an investment-friendly atmosphere and infrastructure, as well as land dedicated to modern agriculture, the state is able to provide a site for companies like Archisen to expand their business.

Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim on January 30 said food security is one area of cooperation that can be explored with Singapore for the benefit of both countries.

“This area (food security) that I think we would solicit support for Singapore to use Malaysia as a centre for production, for the benefit of both countries,” said Anwar who was here on a one-day official visit to the republic.

The meeting was attended by Johor Agriculture, Agro-Based Industry and Rural Development committee chairman Datuk Zahari Sarip; Johor Deputy State Secretary (Development) Datuk Mohammed Ridha Abd Kadir and Iskandar Regional Development Authority chief executive Datuk Badrul Hisham Kassim. – Bernama, February 14, 2023