The Sabalu Market

Q. The Sabalu Market is a good concept. However, I do not see any Chinese or Koreans selling vegetables or fruits. Instead, they are all over the island doing businesses and what I noticed is that majority of them don’t even display their business license. Please, don’t get me wrong, I am not a racist. I buy my vegetables from both the Sabalu Market and roadside vendors. They both have about the same quality produce. I hope to hear your view on this.

A. Farmers’ market is a universal concept both in developed and developing countries, including big metropolitan areas as well as small towns. When the farmers congregate to sell their farm produce it is called a farmers’ market and when they have a standalone stall along the street or a road then a roadside vendor. The primary intent and purpose of these markets is to serve the specific needs of small farmers and lower income people in the community. However, their role as a place of social interaction and a tourist attraction should not be undermined.

We had a farmers’ market on Saipan for many years with a minimal success or benefit to the farmers in spite of a lot of public subsidies. Farmers’ markets do exist on Rota and Tinian that are also backed by subsidies from their respective island governments, with a similar end result. Why they prove to be least successful in my analysis is because of organizational and operational flaws.

Dr. Jack Tenorio, while he was the director of the Department of Land and Natural Resources, took the initiative to revive the farmers’ market. He rightfully named it Sabalu because it was to be held on Saturdays every week. Now, there are other schemes in the pipeline to expand the farmers’ market on Saipan. Again, its success will depend on clearly laying out its intent and purpose as well as judicious implementation strategy.

Unlike advanced states, here in the CNMI we don’t have marketing orders that regulate the sale of farm produce or any grade specification requirements for the farm produce. It is this type of regulations that limit the access of small farmers to regular marketing channels. For that matter we may not make a good case to support farmers’ market but social interaction and tourist attraction aspects of such a market certainly justify one.

You have particularly mentioned the roadside vendors who are doing business throughout Saipan. Sometimes I would get a knock on my door from such a vendor asking, “Boss, would you like to buy this…?” In view of your question I have closely observed these vendors and found out that they are selling a lot of imported produce. So, just like the lookalike mom-and-pop stores, they are also lookalikes and not really the farm produce vendors one may expect. Therefore, any public subsidy or concession in the form of allowing them to use public places may be futile in promoting the concept of a farmer’s market.

(Ashraf is an International Resource Economist. He is solely responsible for the views expressed in this column and doesn’t represent the views of Saipan Tribune. His email address is ashmdr@hotmail.com)