Budget 2026: Singapore’s agri-food sector to get S$70 million in second round of government funding
It will provide co-funding support for local farms to increase capacity and capability for local production
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[SINGAPORE] Singapore will be extending S$70 million of funding from April 2026 to the agri-food industry.
To be disbursed over five years under the Agri-Food Cluster Transformation Fund, which was set up in April 2021, this will be the second round of funding to provide co-funding support for local farms to increase their capacity and capability for local production.
Announcing the latest tranche in Parliament on Wednesday (Mar 4), Senior Minister of State for Sustainability and the Environment Zaqy Mohamad said that the fund’s first tranche has helped Singapore farms transform into advanced farming operations that are of higher yield, and more resilient to pests, diseases and the climate.
Since the Agri-Food Cluster Transformation Fund’s launch, S$55 million has been awarded to nearly 150 projects.
Through the fund, both agri and aqua-farms have adopted small-scale technologies such as LED grow lights, automated feeders and automated irrigation systems that reduce manual labour, as well as large-scale farming systems in climate-controlled environments that guarantee year-round production, said Zaqy, who was speaking on the second day of his ministry’s Committee of Supply debate.
“These developments give us confidence to enhance the fund to support our farms... (It) represents our largest industry scheme to date to support technology adoption and local agriculture capability and capacity building,” he added.
There will also be a new funding component focusing on industry partnerships.
This will focus on co-funding strategic partnerships between farms and ecosystem players, as well as the development and deployment of industry-wide solutions that can support multiple farms.
Some examples include projects that enable shared resources or optimise the supply chain.
Zaqy said the introduction of this new funding component came after industry feedback on the need for collaborative approaches to tackle common challenges such as limited economies of scale and supply chain inefficiencies.
The fund can also be accessed by sea-based and land-based farms in the aquaculture sector to adopt newer technology that has been demonstrated to improve productivity and output consistency.
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