Basseterre, St. Kitts (SKNIS): Online ordering is coming to the Basseterre Public Market as the Ministry of Agriculture in St. Kitts explores innovative ways to boost customer traffic and thereby enhance sales and improve services for vendors using the facility.
On the April 12 edition of the radio and television programme InFocus, Miguel Flemming, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, said that the online option would be facilitated via the website www.agriculture.gov.kn
“We are looking at giving persons the opportunity to now order their produce and drive across to the public market and pick up their produce,” he said, noting that the system is expected to come online before the end of the second quarter of the year.
The website is currently under maintenance as technicians from the Information Technology (IT) Department are updating and reconfiguring the website to be more user-friendly and to facilitate the new feature.
Additional measures under consideration to drive traffic to the public market include a drive-through and organised shopping trips for larger groups.
“Once vendors know for sure that once they go into the public market they will be able to get their produce sold, they’ll be willing to stay in the market and come back to the market,” Permanent Secretary Flemming added.
He noted that more produce is purchased from supermarkets, which also feature imported goods. To “support local”, the ministry strongly encourages buyers to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables, meat, fish and more at public markets.