What is really wrong with AVA

…it is simply this. The roles and goals of AVA are not designed to take stock of the oppirtunities and constraints of Singapore. Instead they seem to be designed for a country that seems to have plenty of land to grow and breed food.

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‘If I was the minister of agriculture and livestock in Singapore. The first thing I would do is hold a meeting with the HR department. I would tell the HR V.P that everyone who joins AVA must from now onwards transition after five years of working in house into a enterprise owner to either grow or breed food for Singapore. That is to say I will transform AVA from a regulatory body into a learning center to equip and finance a new generation of Singaporeans to farm.

I will demystify farming in such a way where if you are in your fifties and you have spent thirty years working let’s say as a banker and now you want to grow pomelos…I will make it as easy as this https://www.timesofisrael.com/raising-organic-fowl-isnt-a-task-for-the-chickenhearted/

I want to be honest. This is in now way original….as I studied very carefully and spied for many years on how the Jews approach the whole subject of agriculture and livestock and I have derived at a few key points.

– First all their regulators are not regulators. They are first enterprise owners themselves. This is very important as you don’t want to create a us against them system. Rather you want a system where the authority partners with the enterprise.

– Secondly, they make agriculture and livestock knowledge very accessible to ordinary Israelites. For example if you want to grow mushrooms – their equivalent of AVA will have a subject matter expert who can generate excel spreadsheet of the cost right down to advise you on how to build and operate the facility.

– Thirdly, all produce and livestock in Israel is priced in such a way where Farmers can make a very good living.

As the first minister of agriculture in Singapore. I will start all over again. This time round it will be centrally planned. The first cohort of farmers will start and run enterprises in Singapore. Once they reach critical mass in both their technical and management knowledge – they will have to go abroad and start farming satellites.

This is how I envision the future of farming in Singapore.’