SUPERMARKET chain MegaMart recently introduced a farmers’ market concept at its Waterloo Road location in St Andrew. A farmers’ market is a physical retail marketplace intended to sell food produce straight from farmers to consumers.

MegaMart boss Gassan Azan said he has invested millions of dollars in bringing this new concept to his locations. He was not willing to say how much money has been invested but pointed to an elaborate logistical network.

“It’s a huge cost because we have had to put staff in the field, buy vehicles to go around and get the produce, and we actually have collection and distribution points to the stores,” Azan explained.

SIGNIFICANCE OF CONCEPT

He drew attention to the entire logistics cost involved in getting the produce from the field to the store.

“This will bring a higher level of quality, higher level of food safety into the stores because we now control it from the field,” he posited. “Before, we didn’t even know how it got to our back door.”

He then boasted that no other supermarket can claim to have as wide a variety fresh fruits, vegetables and ground provisions as MegaMart.

Azan added that MegaMart is grooming farmers and directly involving with them “guaranteeing their offtake to our stores”.

He underscored the strong collaboration with these farmers, noting that MegaMart is doing what the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) should be doing — providing linkages with the farmers. “However, what we have done is kinda taken on the role of RADA for our own private enterprise,” Azan quipped.

EVERYTHING AVAILABLE

Azan said he is committed to having his stores equipped with everything grown in Jamaica but emphasised “it might not be at the price you want or the price you think you should get, but it’s here and available”.

In concluding Azan said, “The mother farm concept is what we are seeing evidence of in the store, where we have farmers who are contract farmers directly for us and we have our own agents purchasing at farm gate prices as opposed to relying on people bringing it to us; we are actually going to them.” He said that while certain fresh vegetables are said to be scarce, these vegetables are available in abundance at MegaMart.

“Take, for example lettuce, which people say is scarce but there is lettuce available in abundance at MegaMart.”