Answers to Question 3 !

3) Choose a location to site your farming activities.

-Take into account updated housing or other development plans in Singapore.

-Your method of farming should work well on the piece of land.

- Consider supply of water, fertilizers and accessibility to the store/market to sell or process food/food product

3) Ans: The location that our group has chosen to site our farming activities is at Upper Seletar Reservoir. There are a few reasons to why we have chosen the Upper Seletar Reservoir.

First of all, there will be a ready supply of water for the farm as it is a reservoir. Thus, the accessibility of the water can cut the cost of having to pay for water to water the plants. The plants can be watered through the irrigation system which will link the water from the reservoir to the sprinklers in the farm. This will ensure that the plants will have a constant supply of water and hence the papaya will be able to grow well and healthy.

Second, in order to prevent too much water from seeping into the soil and affect the growth of the plant, we have decided to build a greenhouse, 11m by 8m, which will be able to store the tallest of papaya trees. Another benefit from building the greenhouse will be that it will help trap heat due to the fact that it is transparent and will not allow much heat from the sunlight to escape. Pest will also not be able to enter the greenhouse that easily, preventing the papaya from being damaged. Hence, a warm and clean environment in the greenhouse will ensure that the papayas grow healthily.

Third, the Upper Seletar Reservoir is near the Mandai Zoo (Singapore Zoo). Being near the zoo means easy access to manure. Horse and cow manure can be combined with bedding in order to create compost, which in turn can be used for as soil for the plants. This means that there is no need to fork out extra money for purchasing manure or compost which is relatively expensive. The Mandai Zoo also has a food court where there is a fruit seller. We have made an agreement to sell our papayas to the fruit seller when they are ripe. The papayas will not need to be process as they are being developed in a clean and healthy environment and also because of the fact that we will be selling the papayas to the fruit seller, who will be selling them as they are. This way, we will not only make profit from selling the papayas but also save money from not having to process the papayas.

Lastly, having taken into consideration the updated housing and other development plans in Singapore, we have found out that they will not be building any new infrastructure near the Upper Seletar Reservoir. Thus, there will be, and have, no building near the reservoir. This will ensure that there will be no moving of the plantation to other places and that they will be able to grow steadily. This is because the papayas need a lot of sunlight and if any building were to be in the vicinity, then, sunlight would be blocked, eventually causing the plants’ growth to be affected. Another reason is that papayas are very sensitive to moving their roots. A slight movement will cause them to wither. Thus, no movement will ensure that they grow steadily and healthily.

The environment around the Upper Seletar Reservoir is beneficial to the plantation. A good supply of water, strong amount of sunlight, good supply of fertilizer and the plantation can serve as a greenery to beautify the area for the people around.