Geography

Problem: Your group is assigned by the Minister for Agriculture to solve this situation on how to farm these food products to solve the possible food shortage in the long run.

1.     Food that we chose to farm – POSSIBLE FOOD PRODUCTS

-RICE

-POTATO

-TAPIOCA

These 3 types of food products have their own preferences of climate and farming condition.

Rice. It is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population. Rice cultivation is well-suited to countries and regions with low labor costs and high rainfall, as it is labor-intensive to cultivate and requires ample water. Rice can be grown practically anywhere, even on a steep hill or mountain.

Potatoes. Potatoes are starchy, tuberous crop that grows underground for 2-4 months. It is very cheap and could be stomach filling. Potatoes could be grown almost anywhere. It is suitable to grow in Singapore as it is full of rainfall and sunlight. The temperature in Singapore allows it to thrive as potato is well-suited to grow at hot humid climate.

Tapioca. Tapioca is a starch extracted from the root of plant species. Tapioca is a staple food in some regions and is used worldwide as a thickening agent, mainly in foods. The plant is easily propagated by stem-cutting, grows well in low-nutrient soils, and can be harvested every two months. They are warm season plants.

Taking into consideration of Singaporeans diet, we felt that growing potatoes is the best option among all as it could be grow easily and save a lot of space.

2) Method of Agriculture

Shifting cultivation

Wet rice cultivation

Plantation agriculture

High-technology farming

Our group has chosen  High-technology farming as it is the best option for our country to grow crops.

Shifting cultivation

We did not chose to plant our potatoes using shifting cultivation. As shifting cultivation requiresa large plot of land, Singapore has only a limited area of land. Shifting cultivation uses the concept of diminishing the soil fertility after the plantation of the crops. After the nutrients are run out, they shift their camp and went to another place to plant. It allows the land to restore itself. This method is efficient in large countries and has a lot of space to grow crops. However, with Singapore limited resources and amount of free using land, it would be unable to farm. It also requires a large amount of time to restore the nutrients. It would only be possible to farm it in islands of Singapore or lands in other countries.

Wet rice cultivation

Wet rice cultivation is used in the olden days. It is the growing of padi on flooded fields in the lowlands of hot and wet regions. A sequence of farming work is required to maintain the land for continuous cultivation. In the olden days, there are no factories or malls around. They are a lot of farm crops. With the latest and newest technologies, there is no need for this type of farming in Singapore. However it is still possible to farm in Singapore. We can farm it in small quantity instead of a large quantity. We can farm it in community club or even private estate. However this type of method of farming is very efficient in Singapore.

Plantation Agriculture

It is out of topic to allow plantation agriculture in Singapore. Although Singapore experiences high temperatures, high humidity and rainfall all around the year, if we are facing shortage of food, we are unable to sell the food to other countries. Despite having all the factors to allow the potatoes to thrive, we have limited amounts of land. We are using different types of way to expand our land physically by using reclaim land to build more facilities. It makes no sense to expand land to build crops to sell to other countries. Besides, we are not facing financial crisis.

High technology farming

High technologies have many methods and ways. Our group has chosen the best option to grow potatoes using high technology farming. We decided to plant using hydroponic and aeroponic methods. It is both space efficient and is successful in producing small amount of potatoes. With the latest technologies, it makes it possible to allows plant to grow without the needs of soil. By using this method, we could produce a substantial amount of food required for the family to survive during shortage of food or crisis. IT ensures out country produce sufficient food during crisis. We also need not depend on other countries during cases of emergency. As Singapore is a small country, it is not possible to grow crops in huge amount.

Where to farm?

By reference to Singapore climate, it is able to farm anywhere in Singapore. Singapore has suitable amount of rainfall and sunshine to allow potato to thrive. Our group decided to plant the potatoes on top of the rooftop, balcony area and places where it is convenience and easy for people. Of course, there are some dangers of placing plants on rooftop or balcony area. However, by doing safety precaution, We could reduce the number of accidents happening. As watering is required for plants ‘ survival, we make it easy for the people to plant it. Hence we decided to plant it at a place where it is near their home. Plants also help to produce oxygen during photosynthesis.

Although the process is quite long and tiring, we could learnt a lot of things about technologies and plants nowadays. We could also observe the changes of plants and learnt new concept.

By farming our own potatoes, we could not only rely on other countries' food supply, we could be able to farm our own potatoes. This would ensure our country to have countinous supply of food in the long run of shortage of food.