Rain or shine, every day for the past year, Kanti Kagrana walks a short distance from his son’s flat to Singapore’s HortPark, a national park where he grows chillies, eggplant and spinach in his allotment garden.
“I enjoy gardening, but there is not enough space in my son’s flat,” said Kagrana, who has two plots. Singapore last year topped the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Global Food Security Index for the first time, scoring high on metrics such as affordability and availability. Yet, as the country imports about 90% of its food, its food security is susceptible to climate change and natural resource risks, the EIU noted.Former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew had envisioned the country as a “Garden City” in the 1960s.
More of them now grow edibles such as vegetables and herbs, said Bjorn Low, co-founder of Edible Garden City, a social enterprise that designs such gardens in under-utilised spaces.