The Good Market is getting better
View(s):With its premise ‘Good for the Planet. Good for the country. Good for you’, the Good Market is one of Colombo’s more popular weekend jaunts, with many-young and old alike-regularly making their way to its venue at Racecourse for fresh, organic produce and ethically crafted products.
The event was first introduced in December 2012 at the Diyatha Uyana in Battaramulla and quickly gained popularity, drawing substantial crowds despite its Thursday slot at the venue. Soon, a second weekly Good Market began at the Racecourse for those that could not make it on Thursday, and with this quickly eclipsing the former’s popularity the organizers moved the event permanently to the Racecourse.
The aim is to eventually introduce a layout more evocative of the traditional farmers market concept that the Good Market was founded on, says Achala Maddumage, a founding member alongside Dr. Amanda Kiessel. An attempt was recently made to shift the market to Rajakeeya Veediya. However, the organizers had to shift Good Market back to the Racecourse due to concerns over traffic and navigation.
“It’s like being part of a big family here,” says Tamara Raymond of Life Food, an organic outlet that introduced the infamous Nai Miris Sauce to the public. “I’m hoping that more organic vendors enter the market.” Life Food also offers salads and other snacks that Tamara endeavours to devise using organic produce as much as possible. “We do still struggle to find certain ingredients,” she admits. “But there are a lot of options for people who want to eat right.” The Good Market has been pivotal in changing lifestyles, she notes-“of course we had organic produce in Sri Lanka before but it was either difficult to find or there wasn’t a market so producers struggled. Now, thanks to initiatives like the Good Market, a lot of people try to buy organic regularly and as producers and businesses we benefit.”
This is a sentiment echoed among many vendors at the Good Market, who have discovered their clientele growing rapidly over the last few years. Karu Herath, who sells organic honey and heirloom rice varieties at Dunvila Sustainables says that a decade ago he was struggling to sell the concept of organic and fair trade products. His farms in Wasgamuwa yield several varieties of the heirloom rice that he says is the ideal organic product. The jars of bee’s honey have proved just as popular, with orders coming in mass scale through people using them as party favours. “All in all, business is good,” says Karu.
The market has been criticized in the past for its high end prices, even though organic produce in general tends to be more expensive in comparison to its everyday counterpart in the market. This is largely due to the smaller number of farmers growing organic produce and the longer farming period, notes Thilini Nanayakkara from the Islander Organic Farm which offers a wide variety of vegetables, fruits and seeds at the market. To alleviate the price effect to a certain extent the Good Market has introduced a certificate known as the Participatory Guarantee System (PGS), through which producers and consumers volunteer their time to develop standards and systems, inspect farms and ensure that products are organic.
“By introducing our own system of standards we’re trying to encourage more farmers to enter the market,” notes Achala. “Often they shy away from organic farming because obtaining the standard certification is too expensive. We have tried to mitigate that by introducing our own set of standards which our volunteers ensure are met through regular site visits and monitoring.”
Thilini notes that the younger farmers have expressed great interest in organic methods, which Islander Organic aims to encourage with awareness and training programmes. As for costs, they try and keep them to a minimum, although the market for their produce is still not as developed as they would like it to be. “We’re satisfied because we’re able to cover costs,” she says. “But the market can be better. So instead of sitting here complaining about it we try to move things along by encouraging more farmers to supply in order to lower our costs and by introducing more audiences to what we offer.”
The variety at the Good Market is not just limited to fresh organic produce; businesses like the English Cake Company and Panino have been so successful that they’ve established their own outlets, and home bakers like the Butter Boutique and Yumi Cake enjoy great popularity. The Achcharu Kade, which makes its trade from inspired combinations of fruit, has a faithful following and a highly popular outlet on Galle Road. Emerge Lanka sells jewellery handcrafted by its beneficiaries and Kingdom Toys offer safe, ethically produced toys for children. They are just a few among the 185 plus vendors registered with the Good Market.
Newer to the market, but with great potential are travel options such as Amba Estate that offers tours of its socially responsible tea estate in Ella and Little Adventures that offers exciting travel and adventure excursions around the country. With the number of vendors rapidly expanding administration has become a challenging task. The overall operation is monitored by a Board composed of Achala, Dr. Kiessel, Dr. Lalith Chandrasena and Steve Francone. Their responsibility is to ensure that the Good Market sticks to its mission and remains financially sustainable-as a non-profit venture, excess revenue is directed back into the organization’s activities. The day-to-day activities of the organization are carried out with the assistance of a large and growing team of volunteers. Their permanent shop next to Lakpahana offers selected products from vendors.
The Good Market too continues to grow – and inspire. We walk into Chakra, a stall selling sustainably produced tie-dye garments. Owner Nisha Pali is a stockbroker by day and says “the Good Market was my inspiration to begin this business. I just wanted to do something because the market is such a great concept.” The idea of running a business that was good for the environment and community held great appeal for Nisha, who hopes to work with traditional craftspeople in the future. “The response has been very good,” she says. “I may even open my own store. We’ll see how it goes.”
The Good Market is open at Racecourse every Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. -D.I.