Farmers urge Singaporeans to return to the `country'

With organic vegetables on sale rather than branded handbags and a quiet rural setting instead of Orchard Road's bustling malls, a small group of farmers in ultra-modern Singapore is fast becoming one of the city-state's surprise tourist attractions.

Nestled the undeveloped outer northwest of the tiny Southeast Asian island alongside a wildlife sanctuary, the farmers are tapping into a strong undercurrent in society by promoting a slower, more traditional way of life.

"People are bored in Singapore. They hate going to shopping centers," said Ivy Singh-Lim, the flamboyant co-founder of Bollywood Veggies, an organic farm that grows more than 400 varieties of fruit, vegetables, herbs and flowers.

Singh-Lim also the president of the Kranji Countryside Association, a newly formed union of 10 farms in the area that has banded together to attract locals as well as foreigners and protect what's left of Singapore's farmland.

Most of Singapore's agricultural sector has been destroyed during the city-state's turbo drive from third-world status at the time of independence in 1965 to today's lifestyle in which its citizens are among the richest in Asia.

Farms been cleared for the ubiquitous Housing Development Board condominiums, in which the vast majority of Singaporeans live, as well as the plethora of air-conditioned shopping malls and industrial buildings.

There are 277 farms left in Singapore that take up just over 1 percent of the nation's land mass of 682km2. They grow mainly orchids and vegetables or rear ornamental fish.

Singapore's miracle," hailed around the world as a model for other developing Asian nations, has left many of the 3.2 million locals bereft of wide experience with nature, according to people such as Singh-Lim.

"The countryside is good for the soul, but in Singapore not many people have anything to do with it at all," said the 55-year-old former property developer, who set up her farm three years ago as a retirement project with her husband.

Singh-Lim the People's Action Party, which has ruled Singapore since independence and is famous for its social controls, for not doing enough to promote a love of nature within the populace.

"Like anywhere, the leadership of the country determines what the country becomes. The [Singapore] leadership has always been incorruptible, clean and strong," she said.

"[But] our leaders don't like sun or surf or wind. Only golf courses," she said.

Indeed, the nation's founding father, Lee Kuan Yew (李光耀), and his successor, Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who between them ruled Singapore from 1965 until last year, are avid golfers.

However Singh-Lim said the Kranji Countryside Association, which counts among its members other organic farms, a wheat grass farm, goat farm and various fish farms, is starting to help Singaporeans appreciate nature more.

"Our vision is to create a greater countryside for Singapore and to keep the countryside as it is. We don't want it to become another HDB," Singh-Lim said, referring to the Housing Development Board skyscraper complexes.

"What we intend to do is highlight the fact that Singapore is not just a city. It's a beautiful little country," she said.

The association's first forays into self promotion resulted in an unexpected and unprecedented response, with a five-day "Spring Festival" in January attracting 18,000 people to farms more used to seeing a handful of weekly visitors.

"It just shows that people in Singapore are looking for a countryside to go to," Singh-Lim said.

During the festival, the association paid for buses to take tourists to the farms, which are deemed too remote to be served by public transport despite being only half an hour's drive from the financial district.

The initial days of the carnival were chaos, with overwhelmed farm operators struggling to cope, and the event stirred a media debate about Singaporeans' orderly lives after people complained of long queues and lack of ice-cream.

"Did these people forget that they were in the countryside, where the pace is supposed to be slower, where the roads are supposed to be narrower and where carnivals sometimes do not go as planned?" journalist Tan Hui Yee wrote in the Straits Times, Singapore's biggest selling newspaper.

"Did anybody bother to look up and notice that, for once, they could see a perfect sunset because their view of the skyline was not marred by tall buildings in the distance?" Tan wrote.

But with awareness starting to rise, Singh-Lim sees a bright future for the farms and the continued impact they will have on Singapore's society.

"The farmers hope that we can develop this area into a beautiful little Margaret River or Napa Valley," she said, referring to the trendy bed-and-breakfast tourist regions in Western Australia and the US.

"We could have our own Sungei Buloh Valley ... we'll promote the countryside and push environmentally friendly practices so it becomes a lifestyle that permeates throughout the community," Singh-Lim said.

The Kranji Countryside Association's efforts have been largely independent so far.

But the Singapore Tourism Board, which normally focuses on attracting mass market foreign tourists to places such as the Orchard Road shopping strip, the Zoo and Sentosa resort island, are also starting to take notice.

"The Singapore Tourism Board is encouraged to see that farmers have come together and embraced the idea of agri-tourism as well as to promote the concept of Kranji countryside," the board's sightseeing and cruise director, Chang Chee Pey said.

"This will offer our visitors more alternatives and enable them to discover the unique and enriching experiences that Singapore has to offer beyond the traditional tourist areas," Chang said.