Singapore agritech firm Archisen teams up with Malaysia’s FarmByte

[KUALA LUMPUR] Consumers in Singapore and Malaysia will soon be able to enjoy fresh vegetables produced by vertical farms in Johor Bahru that use technology developed by Singapore agritech company Archisen.

This after Archisen and FarmByte, a Malaysian agri-food company under the Johor Corporation Group (JCorp), recently signed an agreement to set up an automated vertical indoor farm in Johor Bahru.

FarmByte chief executive Aiman Syed Jaafar told The Business Times that both companies are in the midst of finalising the details and aim to get things started by the first quarter of 2024.

“We aim to put the fresh produce on Singapore supermarket shelves by end-2024,” he said, adding that the first batch of products coming from the 50,000 square foot vertical farm will be premium leafy vegetables for salads.

Under this joint venture (JV), FarmByte will invest RM8.2 million (S$2.3 million) into Archisen to set up the indoor farm that will eventually supply vegetables to both countries.

FarmByte will provide the farming infrastructure and local market insights, while Archisen will supply the technical knowledge on indoor farming practices, including the use of automated systems and data analytics.

Aiman added that Archisen will also conduct training for FarmByte’s employees.

FarmByte – established in early 2023 by state-owned development institution JCorp – was created to enhance Johor’s food security efforts. This includes integrating technology into the agri-food production ecosystem and improving the livelihood of farmers.

Archisen CEO Vincent Wei said that the JV with FarmByte was significant as it marked his eight-year-old company’s first venture in Malaysia.

“Malaysia is certainly one of the markets we are looking to expand into next year, given how the two countries are deeply concerned about food security,” he noted. “We are looking to introduce our range of commercial produce and products to Malaysia, probably around the fourth quarter of next year.”

Archisen’s indoor farms in Singapore operate using a technique called controlled-environment agriculture (CEA), which is able to manage the temperature, humidity, light intensity and even the composition of air.

With CEA, Wei said, it is easy to ensure that the quality of the produce is always high. It also offers farmers the opportunity to plant certain vegetables that are usually not suitable for the natural climate.

“As technology progresses, the range of crops grown in indoor vertical farms will expand and create new job opportunities for urban farmers,” he added.

Beyond Malaysia, Wei said that the company is also looking to venture into Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines at some point.

“As the world looks to more sustainable methods of farming, we believe that indoor vertical farms will complement greenhouses and traditional farms in tackling various problems such as rapid urbanisation and lack of farming land,” he said.

Currently, Archisen operates one of the highest-yielding indoor farms in Singapore, with a projected yield of up to 100 tonnes of vegetables a year. The company supplies its vegetables under the Just Produce brand to numerous retailers in Singapore.