Mayi Market is changing the way Cape York gets its fresh food

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It started as a way to keep COVID out of Cape York Peninsula by reducing the need to travel to buy food.

Now, the Indigenous-run Mayi Market has become a weekly lifeline, bringing fresh food into five Cape communities at affordable prices.

The non-profit service operates online, delivering orders to Mossman Gorge, Hope Vale, Wujal Wujal, Coen, and Aurukun.

It’s an initiative of Cape York Partnership. Their Innovation Project Manager, Sean O’Gorman, said it’s a response to chronic food supply issues on the Cape.

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“What we were primarily set up to do was to try and combat some of the food pricing,” Sean told Tropic.

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“It was really in response to communities saying to us, we need access to more affordable food, and a higher quality product.

“What we’re trying to do is to develop a low cost, low overhead business model, where we deliver essentially pre-purchased products into Cape York at a fair price.

“So that's a fruit box, edible box, a fruit and vegetable box, a whole range of different meat options as well, toilet paper, pantry boxes.

Mayi Market sources produce from Cairns wholesalers at favourable prices, with savings offsetting the cost of transport to the Cape.

The service operates into communities not served by State government owned CEQ outlets, dropping off produce at central delivery points.

Sean says Mayi Market has grown into a way to address chronic food security and affordability issues on Cape York.

“We had examples of meat that was a year past its use by date for two or three times the price of Cairns.

“Distance is definitely a cost, with fuel prices and labor costs.

“But it's when you look at the gap between Cairns and Hope Vale, for example, four-hour drive, sealed roads all the way.

“You're looking at prices that are 100 per cent different to Cairns, a price increase of more than double on some really basic items.

“Some of the more difficult to access places, the wet season comes in and cuts off some communities from Cairns to access by road and you have to take the barge around.

“I think the government needs to step in and support this cost somehow.

“We've got to be able to subsidize some of that freight somehow, whether it's through the barge system or building infrastructure that doesn't go under water every single year.”

Mayi Market says its fixed-price model helps people manage their budgets and ride out produce price fluctuations.

Between July and September this year, it sold 1100 boxes of food, worth about $60,000, and delivered fresh food to Cape York schools for tuckshops and camps.

Mayi Market has just been recognised by the Westpac Foundation, with a $50,000 grant it will use to add another truck to the operation.

It’s hoped Mayi Market will grow to provide training and employment opportunities in Indigenous communities.

And, Sean says, affordable fresh food will make a real difference to the health of people living on the Cape.

“The median budgets in communities, for example, Wujal is about $331 a week, is the median income of a person.

“With such a small budget and such high food costs, you're constantly in this trade-off situation of fresh fruit is going to cost me $20 a kilo, or a packet of chips might only be a few bucks.

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“A packet of chips might be a dollar to a dollar 75 in a community. Apples might be five dollars a kilo in Cairns, but they might be ten up there.

“When you’re in a community, you see the price of some of these products, and know that you're giving people the opportunity to access the essentials at an affordable price.

“You can see the relief on people's faces and the appreciation for us to provide this opportunity.

“We're not handing out free food. It’s about presenting opportunities to people that they themselves will take up within their environment.”