• Offering convenience to consumers
• Customise your online vegetable and fruit order

By Sarah Hannan Ordering your vegetables and fruits online for your daily meals needs somewhat getting used to. Over the past few weeks, enough and more posts that showed people disappointed with the bags of vegetables or fruits they received after ordering online were circulated on social media. Then, there is also the option of pre-selected vegetable or fruit packs available for purchase, where one could either end up with too much or too little of a certain variety of fruit/vegetables as they could not order according to their dietary requirements. Understanding the unique needs of the people, Lanka Agri Produce Management Corporation (LAPMC) today (23) launches their online agri market where one can purchase various vegetables, fruits, leafy greens, mushrooms, food supplementary items, and fruit pulp. The site allows consumers to select any number of items they require, specifying the weight of the product they need according to their requirements; the weight can vary between 250 g to 2 kg. The Morning spoke to LAPMC Managing Director Kavinda Dissanayake to determine what sets LAPMC apart from other online vegetable and fruit delivery sites. “Throughout the last few weeks, people were compelled to purchase bundled packs even when it came to purchasing fruits and vegetables. The consumer did not have the freedom of picking the vegetables and fruits they preferred to add to their meals. In an ideal environment, one could easily walk into a vegetable or fruit store and select the type of products they need to purchase, but the present situation has blocked that possibility.” LAPMC had therefore thought that the consumers should be given the opportunity to select the products they require in the quantities they require. The online agri market will be the largest agri market that is launched in the country, which allows consumers to choose from a wide range of fruits and vegetables. Not only will LAPMC bring convenience to the consumer, but it also empowers the farmers who are selling their produce through LAPMC by fetching them a fair price. Moreover, LAPMC has also called for anyone interested to sell their fruits and vegetables to get in touch with them. Clean, fresh, and continuous supply All the products that are available for purchase through LAPMC are certified for freshness, cleanliness, attractive visual appearance, minimum wastage, regular supply, affordable price, non-use of ripening chemicals on fruits, and sorted commodities. Elaborating further on how the corporation certifies its produce for the aforementioned qualities, Dissanayake said that from the point of harvesting the produce to transporting it to the LAPMC, facilities the corporations ensure that the vegetables and fruits are moved in plastic crates to minimise mechanical damage. Any produce that is harvested is delivered to the LAPMC facilities and is ready for the consumer within 18 hours, and the products are transported in temperature-controlled vehicles to maintain freshness. LAPMC also ensures the cleanliness of the products made available for consumers, as all products go through a sorting and grading process. So when the consumer purchases these products, they will receive products that are in a consumable state, ensuring minimum wastage. Postharvest waste too is minimised, owning to the sorting process and the packaging used for the fruits and vegetables. Given the farmer network that LAPMC is working with at present, consumers also do not have to worry about the products being in short supply. Dissanayake also reiterated that the corporation follows a price formula to ensure that the farmers can fetch a fair price for their produce which is sold through LAPMC, and keeps them motivated to cultivate more; this would also improve farmer livelihood. Since there is no intermediary party, the farmer will get the best price for their produce and the consumer too will be paying a nominal amount for the purchase. “LAPMC ensures that our farmers do not use any ripening chemicals on the fruits that are sold through our platform. Most often, people are reluctant to purchase fruits from unfamiliar places fearing that chemicals are used in the ripening process. We ensure that the fruits that we supply are allowed to ripen in natural conditions,” Dissanayake explained. Delivery coverage to expand While the present delivery network functions in Colombo 1-15, Moratuwa, Piliyandala, Homagama, Athurugiriya, Mattakkuliya, Peliyagoda, Kelaniya, and Kaduwela (via Low Level Road and Malabe), LAPMC revealed that it is looking at expanding their delivery network to the Gampaha District and will be improving their reach step by step. LAPMC is of the view that once their online agri market is launched, people can easily revert to their usual meal plans as, due to the present conditions, they have not been able to enjoy a well-balanced meal. “We hope that the consumer will make use of our service and will be able to prepare nutritious meals that the whole family would enjoy. Families can easily practice healthy eating habits when they have a good selection of vegetables and fruits,” Dissanayake added. The online agri market can be accessed through http://shop.lapmc.co or through LAPMC’s delivery partners UberEats, PickMe Foods, takas.lk, and Esoft Cloud POS. Once an order is placed, depending on the availability of the delivery service, the consumer will receive their order between the next 30 minutes to 24 hours. Consumers can select various payment methods such as cash on delivery, credit/debit cards, FriMi, MOMO by HNB, and SOLO by HNB.