Panasonic has growing ambitions as a vegetable supplier to Singapore

Japan's Panasonic Corp, best known for its televisions and home theatre systems, wants to feed Singaporeans its radishes and lettuce.

A unit of the electronics conglomerate has started selling to a chain of Japanese restaurants in Singapore fresh produce grown in what it says is the first licensed indoor vegetable farm in the island state.

The move ties Panasonic's deeper push into farming technology with land-scarce Singapore's ambition to reduce its near-total reliance on food imports.

"We foresee agriculture to be a potential growth portfolio, given the global shortage of arable land, climate change and increasing demand for quality food as well as stable food supply," said Hideki Baba, the managing director of Panasonic Factory Solutions Asia Pacific.

The facility, which has a small production capacity of 3.6 tonnes annually, produces 10 types of vegetables such as mini red radishes and baby spinach.

Indoor farming has found favour with other Japanese technology firms as well. Fujitsu is growing lettuce at its Fukushima province plant, while Sharp Corp is testing growing strawberries indoors in Dubai.