Local fruit and vegetable producers have difficulty selling their stocks during these summer months.
Blame it on the lack of buyers for these organic and local products. Many have obviously gone on vacation. Summer is also the time when vegetables and fruits mature. Few requests, many offers, producers are therefore sometimes forced to let their harvest rot.
This phenomenon, the members of the cooperative BEES Coop have been observing for a few weeks.
On the shelves of the cooperative supermarket in Schaerbeek, there are fewer customers. From July 15 to August 15 is the off-peak period. In the fresh produce aisles, the strategy must therefore be reviewed. “We try to juggle intelligently with productions which will sell easily, such as cucumbers or tomatoes, and with other productions, which will sell less well, such as cabbage. It is also the season for these“, explains Manon, the manager of the fruit and vegetable department. Thanks to this method, only 5% of the vegetables offered for sale in the store remain unsold. “But it’s true that there are a lot fewer people in the store this summer“, concludes the department manager.
Between the stalls, this Thursday, August 4, there was still Cristina, she is a member of the cooperative. “I’m all alone at home so I can’t do much to avoid this waste. There, I’m going to bring a salad to my neighbor“, she confides. “CIt’s madness to go on vacation right now. The summer months were planned initially to harvest“, she wishes to point out.