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SINGAPORE: Farms in rural Lim Chu Kang are welcoming more visitors as Singapore residents, unable to vacation abroad amid the COVID-19 pandemic, explore the country in looking for new experiences.
“Compared to a year ago, I think the footfalls have almost doubled. We get around 400 to 500 people a day now on weekends, ”said Ms. Chelsea Wan from Jurong Frog Farm.
“It seems to me that the locals are exploring unconventional roads and more outdoor activities … Maybe because there is not much that can be done in a mall.”
This has translated into more income from the sale of frog food and tickets for activities like catching frogs, Ms. Wan said.
That has cushioned some of the losses incurred when business slowed during the Singapore “circuit breaker,” but CNA farm operators said revenues are still far from what they were.
READ: With travel restrictions, more people flock to the Singapore islands for pleasure
CAP ON TOURS CUT A GREAT SOURCE OF INCOME
Safe distancing restrictions on group sizes and activities have reduced demand for one of its largest audience groups: students.
“We previously did group learning tours in groups of 120 students… Losing that (income pillar) was pretty sad,” Ms. Wan said.
The farm now runs family tours in groups of five.
For Wan, the farm’s attractions complement his main wholesale frog business, which has yet to recover as demand from restaurants has waned amid the pandemic.
Children on a visit to Jurong Frog Farm. (Photo: Jurong Frog Farm)
It’s a similar story at Singapore’s only goat farm.
The number of visitors to Hay Dairies has risen steadily over the past few months to about 700 a day on weekends, which is in line with pre-pandemic levels.
However, the business of these walk-ins is not enough to make up for the shortfall in lost tour groups, farm owner Leon Hay said.
“Before COVID-19, from January to November last year, I entertained 17,000 visitors, including about 12,000 students, on reserved tours of the farm,” Hay told CNA.
“This year, in the same period, we only had 55 people booked.”
A Hay Dairies employee milking the farm’s goats. (Photo: Cheryl Lin)
“Because I no longer do group tours, it also affects my milk sales,” said Mr. Hay, pointing to the fact that tours are a great marketing tool for milk sold on the farm and in farms. supermarkets.
He added that total milk sales have fallen 40 percent this year.
At a vegetable farm not far away, about 20 percent more visitors are passing by, but the owner has found it challenging to seize the opportunities.
“We just don’t have enough manpower to have one guide each for so many small groups,” said Fire Flies Health Farm Manager Chai Nian Kun.
“So some people come and they don’t know what we’re doing (because we don’t have people to explain to), they just look around and then they leave,” he said.
Vegetables grown at Fire Flies Health Farm in Lim Chu Kang. (Photo: Fire Flies Sanitary Farm)
HOW TO HOLD THE INTEREST EVEN WHEN THE TRIP IS RESTARTED
Farms are also trying to make sure that interest in their business is not a flash in the pan, especially when the possibilities for travel start to open up.
Jurong Frog Farm, for example, is trying to attract repeat visitors with new activities.
“We are preparing new workshops on frog parchment. That means treating the frog skin and turning it into novelty products like key rings, ”said Ms Wan.
“This is also part of how we want to educate people about sustainability and the drive for zero waste on the farm, using these discards to do something else.”
READ: Lim Chu Kang to transform into high-tech agri-food group under SFA’s master plan
Hay said there is still time to “play” as aviation experts do not expect global air travel to recover to pre-coronavirus levels until 2024.
That means the new farm installation, which will be completed in late 2022, would come at a good time, he said.
In addition to incorporating design measures favorable to pandemicsThat would help them better control the flow of visitors, said Mr. Hay, that there will be a better viewing gallery and perhaps a new area for interacting with “teenage” goats.
“Our goal is also to create new product lines (ice cream, yogurt and prebiotic drinks), as well as an additional strawberry flavor for goat milk. I can’t do this now because my farm doesn’t have space, ”he explained.
A goat at the Hay Dairies farm in Lim Chu Kang. (Photo: Cheryl Lin)
Both the frog and goat farms are also working with travel agencies to promote their farms to Singaporeans and tourists when the borders are reopened.
As for Fire Flies Health Farm, Chai said that he is collaborating with the non-profit organization My Community Festival, which is organizing tours to various locations in Lim Chu Kang in December.
Farms hope these efforts will be enough to continue to attract visitors to their forest area, in order to raise frontline numbers to what they were before the pandemic.
“Of course, we took those good pre-COVID days for granted. Now we have to work very hard to keep up, ”said Ms. Wan.
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