Cheaper locally farmed greens and fish at selected FairPrice outlets

Offer comes under 6-month trial to help farmers aggregate supply and demand

- Cheryl Tan

Cheaper locally grown vegetables and tilapia fish are available at many FairPrice supermarkets islandwide under a six-month trial to help local farms aggregate supply and demand, and push produce out to consumers.

Chye sim, lettuce and xiao bai cai grown by two local farms, Cropciti and Metro, are selling at $1.78 per 200g under the brand SG Farmers' Market, while bayam is going for $2.15 per 200g pack.

Other local farms are generally selling their veggies at higher prices. For instance, Green Harvest is selling its cai xin hua at $3.23 for a 300g bag, while its xiao bai cai is going for $2.52 for 250g.

Under the pilot, tilapia fish is going at a promotional price of $4.90 for a whole fish and $5.90 for a fillet $1 less than their regular prices.

The fish, which are gathered from several local fish farms in the West Johor Straits and then processed, are sold under the brand name The Straits Fish.

SG Farmers' Market and The Straits Fish are two brands that are part of the initiative by the Singapore Agro-Food Enterprises Federation (Safef).

To support the local agri-food industry, Safef, the Seafood Industries Association (Singapore) and At Fresh, a fresh fruit and vegetable distributor, have taken on the role of demand and supply aggregators for vegetable and fish products.

The three players have been speaking to food businesses in the hotel, restaurant and catering sectors, as well as supermarket retailers, to better understand the industry's needs and demand for fresh produce.