Fresh from the farm with Plaasvars e-Market
The Plaasvars e-Market is a forum that links farmers and consumers. Farmers can sell any agricultural product on the digital selling and buying platform.
EVEN though farmers have been classified as essential services workers during the lockdown, they nevertheless had to adopt new ways of getting their produce to the market.
Farmers, in ensuring food security, work from sunrise to sunset, day in and day out to ensure their products reach their destinations farm-fresh. Commercial farmers work to secure an income for farmworkers, their own families and sustainably produced fresh products.
Commercial farmers, however, are often at the short end of the stick in terms of government funding, according to Louis Meintjes, the President of TLU SA.
“Small-scale farmers produce less than 2% of agricultural products and employ only 6% of workers, but receive lifeline after lifeline. Big farmers can absorb disasters easier because of government contracts and financial prosperity. But the impact when these farmers fail is also so much bigger,” he says.
This calamity has now resulted in the launch of the Plaasvars e-Market, a forum that links farmers and consumers.
Farmers can sell any agricultural product on the digital selling and buying platform.
The platform is easy to use:
- The farmer uploads the information and available products with a photo or two;
- the consumer visits the market and chooses the products they are interested in; and
- the farmer and consumer speak directly to each other to complete the transaction.
When you click on the product you are interested in, information such as the location and name of the seller, the price as well as information about the product are available.
The Plaasvars e-Market is available at https://plaasvars.tlu.co.za/en/ .
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