Singapore's fourth egg farm to begin operations in 2024

SINGAPORE: Singapore's fourth egg farm will begin operations in 2024 as part of an integrated production facility.

Local operator ISE Foods Holdings (IFH) announced this on Tuesday (Oct 25) after receiving approval from the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) to build a commercial egg farm on about 10ha of land in Lim Chu Kang. 

The company is backed by Japan's top egg producer, ISE Japan, which also has operations in the United States, China, Vietnam and Thailand. 

Apart from the egg farm, the integrated egg production facility includes a day-old chick hatchery. 

When fully operational, it will be able to produce 360 million eggs and up to 5 million day-old chicks annually, said ISE Food Holdings. 

"This can increase the capacity of Singapore’s egg industry to collectively meet about half of Singapore’s demand for eggs, up from about 30 per cent today," it added.

Construction of the integrated facility will begin in phases from the first quarter of 2023.

SMART POULTRY FARMING

The farm will be the first in Singapore to have the full ecosystem of egg production, from the initial imports of day-old chicks that will eventually become the parents of other day-old chicks that lay eggs for consumption. 

Singapore’s current egg farms only import the day-old chicks that lay eggs for consumption.

State-of-the-art technology is being developed in collaboration with the National University of Singapore to create a live round-the-clock remote monitoring system, said ISE Food Holdings. 

"AI image recognition technology will be deployed to detect, in real-time the environment inside the farmhouse and any abnormal clinical symptoms in the hens without human intervention,"  it added.

"It will also allow many agricultural tasks to be automated, enabling the farm to prioritise its manpower deployment for higher value operations."

In addition, the new facility will take steps to boost sustainability by increasing energy efficiency and adopting more environmentally friendly waste management. 

These include the use of renewable energy sources, water recycling systems, energy-efficient lighting fixtures with sensors and natural ventilation to reduce the need for air conditioning, said ISE Food Holdings.