Jurin launches ‘Blue Flag Caravans’ to take fruit and veg to people’s doorstep
In a move to relieve the economic pressure brought on by the Covid-19 outbreak, Commerce Minister Jurin Laksanawisit visited Thailand’s largest fresh market – Talaat Thai – in Pathum Thani on Friday (April 17).
While there he met with vendors and representatives of different agricultural associations to announce his plan to “take things to customers” through the “Blue Flag Caravans” service.
“The Blue Flag caravans will not just sell fruits and vegetables, but also carry important necessities such as eggs, instant noodles, cooking oil, hand-washing gel, canned fish and rice etc to sell to customers nearby. So far, 350 vehicles are involved in the project,” he said.
He added that his ministry has also collected data about fruit crops waiting to be harvested and is planning to set up a distribution centre which will work with 800 cooperatives nationwide to sell the harvest both online and offline with ThailandPost providing the delivery service.
The outbreak has badly hit the agricultural sector as sales and consumption has dropped due to the lockdown, lack of tourists and drop in exports.