18 May 2025
By Wu Xueting
In land-scarce and import-dependent Singapore, Roc Koh reimagines food security through the circular relationship between agriculture and community. He shares how his agro-consultancy, Corridor Farmers, transforms underutilised, everyday spaces into edible gardens that bring people and food together.
In land-scarce Singapore, space is gold – a golden opportunity to explore the big impact a small space can have.
What if unused spaces in open corridors of HDB flats or office buildings could be transformed to contribute to both community building and sustainability?
Roc Koh has found an answer in community edible gardens.
Founded in 2020, his agro-consultancy, Corridor Farmers, seeks to bring people together over farming and food by building community edible gardens out of underutilised shared spaces in residential areas, schools and hotels. They also provide farming resources to individuals and corporations, and afterwards help distribute the produce grown to interested F&B clients in the vicinity.
“It’s a whole value chain,” Roc explained to me. Different groups of people are connected through this process: Food waste is collected from wet markets and composted to be reused as fertiliser for community gardens. Greens grown from these gardens are then sold to restaurants for use in their dishes.
Roc sees this cycle as a triple-win situation that minimises waste, supports local food production and brings the community together.
Before Corridor Farmers, the urban edible gardening movement has long been growing in Singapore. Over 2,000 community gardens have been set up by Singapore’s National Parks (NParks) under its Community in Bloom programme. Located in housing estates, schools, and other public spaces, these gardens are driven not by commercial production, but by community bonding.
Inspired by how those gardens connected food and people, Roc wanted to tap into urban farming’s potential in promoting social, physical and environmental wellness. Corridor Farmers grew from the question: Besides producing food, what else can we address through agriculture?
He learnt first hand when he got involved in community gardening with his mother. What started as a way to keep her physically and socially active unexpectedly became a transformative experience for himself. He grew so close to his fellow gardeners that they felt like a second family. When one of the elderly aunties fell sick, everyone took turns visiting her in the hospital.
“That’s when I realised the power of the community garden,” Roc said. “[Its ability] to transform people.”
Struck by the camaraderie of his gardener-neighbours, Roc wanted to create a way for them to make some returns for the time and effort put into gardening. He noticed a demand for produce grown in community gardens, but no existing platform to buy them. Corridor Farmers thus began as a marketplace application where gardeners could list their produce for sale. A Carousell for homegrown, small-batch greens.
By the end of the first year, it became clear that this model did not work. The gardeners were mostly seniors who struggled with the application as they were not technologically savvy. Roc then restructured Corridor Farmers into an agro-consultancy that goes on the ground to help set up mini farms and pair gardeners with interested F&B businesses. Through this hands-on approach, Corridor Farmers forms bonds with the people they work with, becoming part of the community they foster.
I saw this in action when he took me to one of their rooftop garden projects.
At five in the afternoon, Chinatown Complex, Singapore’s largest hawker centre and market, hums with activity as hawkers get ready for the dinner crowd. Take the lift to the fifth floor, however, and the bustling crowd fades away, opening up into a quiet rooftop oasis for the residents nearby. Framed by a fitness corner and basketball court is a small budding garden.
When we arrived, an elderly uncle was already checking on the plants. Roc greeted him loudly before they walked around the garden together, pointing out how the different plants were growing.
Occupying roughly 200 square metres, the Kreta Ayer Community Garden was still in its early stages. There were roughly 100 Vegetrays (stackable planting trays) sprouting a range of greens from Chinese mustards to red radishes.
As Singapore sets aside only about one per cent of land for agricultural use, government agencies and ground-up enterprises have been turning to underutilised common spaces to create edible gardens to boost the country’s food resilience. But can a small space like the Kreta Ayer Community Garden, with its low production volume, be a solution?
Roc believes it can. “Even one gram [contributes] towards food security.”
Due to limited land and natural resources, Singapore imports over 90 per cent of its food. Even domestic farms rely heavily on imported seeds and fertilisers, leaving Singapore’s food supply vulnerable to global supply and price fluctuations resulting from climate change and geopolitical conflicts.
In 2019, Singapore announced its “30 by 30” goal: produce 30 per cent of its nutritional needs locally by 2030. At that time, domestic farms producing eggs, fish, and leafy greens were meeting 26, 10, and 14 per cent of local needs respectively. Just a year later, this goal gained serious urgency when the Covid-19 pandemic struck, disrupting global food supply chains. It was during this anxiety-ridden time in 2020 that Corridor Farmers was born.
As a result, Roc sees the community and these gardens as important players during times of crisis. He cited the Victory Gardens during World Wars I and II – edible gardens that Allied nation citizens planted in backyards and balconies to counter food shortages.
The urban edible gardening movement in Singapore was similarly triggered by crisis. Following rapid industrialisation in the 1920s, Asia was hit by droughts and soil erosion, prompting greater interest amongst Singaporeans to grow their own food. When World War II loomed, a mass campaign to Grow More Food in all available garden spaces emerged and continued even after the Japanese Occupation.
“By sprouting many community gardens, we are building [the] last line of defense for food security,” Roc said.
Engaging and empowering ordinary people to be part of Singapore’s food security effort not only diversifies food sources, but also spreads awareness about food sustainability.
In growing their own produce, gardeners learn about food waste management strategies like composting and gain a greater appreciation of food. They go on to practice it in their own kitchens, even influencing others to adopt these habits. However, the hard work of growing produce makes them realise how much easier and cheaper it is to buy vegetables instead. Likewise, F&B businesses prefer to buy produce from commercial farms, who can offer greater volume and consistency at a lower price.
Corridor Farmers also conducts food sustainability workshops and farm tours for schools, companies and the public. Roc observed that Singaporeans are increasingly aware of the benefits of homegrown produce: higher nutrition, freshness, and greater contributions to Singapore’s self-sufficiency. “They know more [now], but dollars and cents still count.”
Given this gap between supply and demand, many of the community gardens Roc works with do not sell their produce. Instead, the mini farms in schools and hotels use the produce in their own kitchens or donate to charities.
Despite incurring costs, it makes for a good marketing narrative. Supporting Singapore’s local food production goals becomes a strategy for businesses to leave a positive impact societally and environmentally, and enhances their brand image as well.
Is that a problem? Roc doesn’t think so. “Are they not growing? Are they not creating a surplus of vegetables?” he argued. “Even if they prioritise the narrative, I feel [that] they also create an impact.”
As the sun set, a young boy joined us in the Kreta Ayer Community Garden. He walked along rows of plants and ran his fingers over their leaves, his face a mix of curiosity and glee.
During his educational programmes, Roc found Singapore youths excited, aware, and supportive of urban farming. “But what does that translate to? Future generations more conscientious about consumption?”
Engaging more youths in community gardening is important in keeping the practice alive. As most involved are from the older generation, will the culture fade away with them?
On the rooftop above St. John’s – St. Margaret’s Church, Corridor Farmers helped convert part of their ornamental garden into an edible one, tended to by church members and seniors from their active ageing centre.
Roc envisioned how this garden could be more integrated with society: what if children from the church’s preschool joined them as well? Nearby hawkers could be interested in the produce. Roc grew animated as he imagined all this – people from different generations and walks of life brought together by the shared love of growing something together.
I thought about this future as I watched the boy skip over to the uncle. The uncle placed a hand on his back, guiding him to look at the spinach in front of them. Like before, the boy reached out to touch the leaves, then bounded off again, attention drawn elsewhere.
The seeds of Singapore’s future have been planted in soil tended to by these communities – only time will tell how these gardens will grow.
(Edited by Angela Tan)
Corridor Farmers is a Singapore-based agro-consultancy that helps communities build and manage edible gardens. They envision a future with “a farm in every corner” and hope to foster community through a shared love of food and agriculture. Other than consultancy work, Corridor Farmers also conducts educational programmes on urban farming and distributes produce from the gardens to F&B clients in the immediate vicinity. You can reach out to them on Instagram or their website.
Xueting is a writer living in Singapore. An English literature graduate, she has worked as a journalist, book editor, and copywriter. She enjoys telling stories that connect people and learning more about sustainable living.
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