(from left) Veronica Lumy from Lazada’s RedMart, and Joycelyn Ng from SFA
You may have heard the saying ‘Too many cooks spoil the broth’ but sometimes, the more cooks the better the ‘broth’ becomes!
The ‘broth’ in question is our year-long campaign to get consumers to buy local produce.
This month’s Tools of the Trade feature will showcase the people behind the campaign – farmer, retailer, association and the Government – and highlights our collaborative efforts in this nation-wide initiative, which will come to culmination on 27 August with the launch of the #fromSGtoSG campaign.
In this first-parter, we talk to Veronica from Lazada's RedMart and Joycelyn from SFA to learn what they do, why local produce matters and the tools they use in their course of work.
Hi ladies! Share with us what you do.
Veronica Lumy: Hi! I’m the Category Manager for Fresh Produce & Bakery in RedMart, Lazada’s grocery arm.
Joycelyn Ng: I’m from the Community Engagement & Partnership team in SFA. We run outreach programmes to raise awareness and promote support for local produce and good food safety practices.
Both of your roles involve getting consumers to buy local produce. What initiatives have you pushed out in this area?
V: Lazada's RedMart is supportive of local produce. This year, we worked with SAFEF (Singapore Agro-Food Enterprises Federation Limited) on the
e-SG Farmers’ Market, which offers consumers the convenience of ordering from 20 local farms in one place and at the click of their fingertips.
RedMart on Lazada’s e-SG Farmers’ Market site brings the physical SG Farmers’ Market online, so that consumers can shop from the comfort of their homes
This dedicated page was introduced at the SG Farmers’ Market at Tampines in January and officially launched in March, which on hindsight was good timing. When the Covid-19 situation exacerbated in March and Singapore entered Circuit Breaker in April, everyone went on a panic-buying spree and demand for local produce also went up. In fact, many produce sold out fast and we had to get farmers to ramp up production and replenish stock.
The site offers consumers the convenience of ordering from 20 local farms in one place and at the click of their fingertips
In April and May, we also helped facilitate the prize delivery (18 baskets of local produce) of SFA’s ‘Here got farm meh?’ Facebook Contest which raised awareness of local farms in alternative spaces. We thought this was an interesting contest and something that we could help to drum up publicity for both local produce and the e-SG Farmers’ Market page.
Joycelyn working with the creative agency to vet and sign off on visuals for the #fromSGtoSG campaign
J: While the #fromSGtoSG campaign will only be pushed out this week, the planning started last year. Leading up to the campaign, we worked with the industry and public to co-create the new ‘SG Fresh Produce’ logo and organised the Citizens’ Workgroup on increasing demand for local produce.
Not forgetting the development & production of the #fromSGtoSG campaign, which is slated to launch this Thursday (keep your eyes peeled at SFA’s FB and IG for updates!).
Why do you think supporting local produce is important?
V: Supporting local brings a multitude of benefits, such a smaller carbon footprint from farm to fork. Because of the shorter distance, the produce reaches you fresher too. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic underscored the urgency to enhance our food security as the possibility of global supply chain disruption is very real.
No farmers, no food!
J: To borrow a quote from one of our farmers, “No farmers, no food!”. As Covid-19 has shown, we cannot overly depend on others for food. We need to help ourselves and grow our own food. To do this, we must support our local farms and keep them in business, so that they can continue to do what they do best – feed us!
One way of getting more consumers to buy local produce is to educate them on their benefits
What are some of the challenges in getting consumers to choose local produce and what can we do more to help?
V: Price is a challenge. We work closely with farmers to educate customers on the benefits of local produce and help them understand that the prices justify the high-quality produce they get.
The prices justify the high-quality produce.
J: Consumers in Singapore are often not aware on the types of local produce available in the market or even the names of some of our local farms. In fact, some do not even know we have farms!
Another challenge is price. It’s true that local produce cost slightly more. However, I feel this is a chicken and egg (pun intended) issue. There needs to be demand from consumers for our farmers to increase productivity and therefore supply. When production is ramped up and there are more local produce in the market, prices will be lower.
What are some of the local produce you buy and cook?
V: I love our homegrown kangkong - the stems are distinctly thinner and crunchier. Mushrooms are also my favourite and I highly recommend king oyster mushrooms from Kin Yan, one of our local farmers!
J: I walk the talk so I try to buy local produce whenever possible – be it eggs, fish or vegetables. Some local produce can only be found in limited quantities at Farmers’ Markets such as our SGFM.
At the SGFM in January, I was thrilled to get my hands on locally grown corn-on-the-cob, which was just harvested the day before. I had it raw and the corn was still tender and sweet.
If you could describe yourself as a local produce item, what would you be and why?
V: I would be Kale, as it is a versatile vegetable that can be made into soup, paste or pesto sauce. I’d like to think I’m as versatile at work too.
J: An egg - I enjoy my work which is egg-citing. At times, it’s challenging too but hey, we just have to stay on the sunny side up! ;)
Tell us some of the tools of the trade you use in your course of work
V: Innovation is important in my line of work. Selling fresh produce online is out of norm. Some consumers still prefer to buy produce by touching and feeling them. Selling produce to consumers on an e-Commerce platform requires us to think out of the box, from engaging them differently to coming up with innovative packaging to ensure optimum freshness during transport.
Veronica feels that product knowledge is important and she’s learning on the job continuously
Another tool is product knowledge. When I started out, I wasn’t familiar with local farms and the type of produce they grow. To get these farms onboard the e-SGFM page, I had to learn fast. Moreover, as fresh produce needs to be stored at the right temperatures and cannot be kept for long periods of time, we need to carefully plan how much and when these produce needs to be replenished and sold.
J: My phone camera is an essential tool as I use it to take photos for “market research” on visual merchandising displays and point-of-sale materials to promote local produce. It also comes in handy to record events such as the SGFM, school talks and learning journeys to farms.
Another tool is collaboration. Just take this campaign - we’ve worked with many partners (like Veronica) to get their inputs and roll it out. It takes a village!