A new fruit and vegetable market in October will give customers the opportunity to buy fresh produce directly from farmers, bypassing the Pitkali, blamed by different quarters of inflating prices.
The Farmers' Market is a new concept aimed at giving consumers a fair deal on fresh fruit and vegetables while netting farmers more for their produce, in which they put a lot of work and dedication.
Paul Fenech Gonzi, director of the wholesale markets section within the Resources and Rural Affairs Ministry, explained that the new market would open on Wednesdays and Saturdays when farmers could sell produce directly to consumers.
Farmers have often complained they were inadequately compensated for their produce and customers object to high prices.
As things stand now, farmers take their produce to the Pitkali, in Ta' Qali where they receive payment for their goods. That produce is then bought by hawkers at marked-up prices. The hawkers, in turn, sell the produce at a higher price to cover expenses and make a margin of profit. The Pitkali fruit and vegetable market is a government operation but it is controlled entirely by private individuals.
Mr Fenech Gonzi said the system of middlemen meant that customers were paying much more for the produce and a lot more than what the farmer got for his strenuous work.
"This Farmers' Market will create the set-up for farmers to sell their produce directly without the need of middlemen or hawkers. In this way, both customers and farmers will be getting a fair deal," he said.
It will open in the afternoon on Wednesdays and all day on Saturdays and will be situated in Ta' Qali. Mr Fenech Gonzi said that if the pilot project worked, the government was planning to expand the idea to another two venues in Malta and one in Gozo. Eventually and according to the feedback and the public's response, the market could grow from a market of agricultural products to a market for fresh fish and meat products.
Asked about the situation at the Pitkali, Mr Fenech Gonzi said his department was in the process of preparing discussion documents on an overhaul at the government fruit and vegetable market.
"The Pitkali operates on an archaic system using middlemen whose job should be to auction produce taken there by individual farmers for hawkers to buy. In theory, there should be a bidding system whereby the hawker with the highest bid takes the produce to sell to his customers. However, this system has long been discarded and the prices are fixed. Farmers receive a fixed price. Any changes we are proposing are being strongly resisted," he said.
Farmers are getting letters informing them about the new market. Applications open tomorrow and close on August 20.
There are about 1,500 registered farmers who sell their produce to the Pitkali.