5 Reasons Why You Should Shop at the Farmer’s Market

Addicted to supermarkets? So are we, but for local fresh fruits and vegetables we’ll sacrifice the comforts of air-conditioning for another kind of experience; the kind that makes us a lot happier. Here are 5 reasons why you should shop at the farmer’s market.

#1 – Cheaper at the farmer’s market

Since most of the vegetables sold at farmer’s markets are transported directly from Kundasang, Tambunan, or other farms in Sabah, the transportation cost is a lot less than for vegetables that have been imported and air-freighted. Moreover, you will be bypassing the grocer and pay wholesale prices for personal consumption. This is especially great if you want to keep the family grocery bill down while making sure that you get the nutritious goodness from fresh fruits and vegetables.

#2 – Usually fresher at the farmer’s market

Vegetables and fruits from the market are generally much fresher as they leave farms in the morning and arrive at the market a few hours after. This means most of the nutrients are still retained in freshly harvested vegetables. For example, these locally-grown snap peas are sweeter, crisper, and younger than their imported counterparts.

So are all the other leafy vegetables as well as fresh fruit from our own soil. Most of these vegetables go for RM1.00 per bunch, though some may be sold in RM2.00 bunches or by weight.

#3 – Availability of locally-sourced produce

One of the great things about shopping at the farmer’s market is that you are likely to have more information about where your food comes from. When you buy imported vegetables, you don’t actually know how safe they are in terms of pesticide and toxin levels like lead, mercury and genetic modification. That’s not to say all vegetables sold at the market are organic, but if you get to know your grocer, they’ll tell you what you want to know about where the food comes from. You can trace it back to the source if you wanted to.

#4 – Buying local helps the farming community in Sabah

According to WorldHunger.org, there are 578 million hungry people in Asia and the Pacific in 2010 (our region alone!). Moreover, there is a world food shortage crisis looming. Yet our own farmers in Sabah continue to sell vegetables so cheaply because the produce ends up rotting if people don’t buy them.

Many people may not know that the Jabatan Pertanian Sabah (Sabah Agriculture Department) actually has an excellent program to encourage the farming industry locally, which is evidenced in the abundance of fruits and vegetables in our markets. In spite of that, we still import some of the same kinds of vegetables we produce locally from West Malaysia (Choy Sum) and China (Cabbage). Is this necessary?

What about we eat more local produce and less imported stuff so that the farming community has an incentive to keep producing food for our consumption, and also to export too. More food and more jobs to go around is good for everybody in Sabah!

#5 – Sometimes You Get Extras

Lastly, sometimes your favorite vegetable seller may give you a discount, stuff extra vegetables in your bag or let you have a few peppers for free. Which is something that supermarkets don’t do!

Here are some of the farmer’s markets you can head to:-