The Federal Agriculture Marketing Authority (Fama) has set a three-year target to fully implement the use of biodegradable plastics at 737 farmers’ market locations nationwide.

Its director-general Ahmad Ishak said the agency was making efforts to enhance the awareness among both the traders and consumers towards the use of safer and environmentally-friendly plastic bags by organising campaigns at all farmers’ markets continuously.

“It is estimated that between 700,000 and 1 million people visit the farmers’ markets within a week, so we can imagine how much plastic bags are being used at any one time and it certainly poses issues and problems to the environment as it does not disintegrate.

“We are also thinking of taking the similar approach implemented in Selangor where consumers need to pay 20 sen if they want to use plastic bags, but this should be carried out gradually to achieve our goal of reducing environmental pollution,” he said.

He was speaking at a press conference after the launching of the Farmers’ Market Cleanliness campaign at the Padang Hiliran here today that was also attended by state Fama director Fauzi Mohd.

With "The farmers’ market cleanliness begins at your booth" as the slogan, the campaign was simultaneously held at 737 farmers’ markets nationwide involving 30,600 entrepreneurs selling various goods such as food and other agriculture products.

Ahmad said the cleanliness campaign launched today was the first phase in the efforts to enhance the image of the farmers’ market to compete with others while raising the economy level of the participants at the same time.

The second phase of the campaign would commence in January next year and cover wider aspects such as rating and recognition of cleanliness levels among the participants based on their efforts and commitments, he said.

“Entrepreneurs who maintain the best performance throughout the year will be awarded with the cleanest stall that include cash prize and certificate,” he said.

- Bernama