Published :
Updated :
For all latest news, follow The Financial Express Google News channel.
The price gap of agricultural produce between growers and kitchen markets has widened further due to supply crunch amid COVID-19 lockdown, market insiders said.
According to them, vegetables are still selling at much higher rates in Dhaka city, although farmers count acute losses for a drastic fall in prices of their produce.
Government data, however, show the widening price gap of vegetable between farm level and city retail level at this critical time, hurting both the peasantry and consumers.
The Department of Agriculture Marketing (DAE) data showed a 110-525 per cent price gap of 14 key vegetables between upazila wholesale level and city retail level.
Kaykobad Ali, a farmer at Shatibari under Mithapukur in Rangpur, was selling quality long brinjal of his land at only Tk 12-14 a kg for a week.
The same quality brinjal was sold at Tk 52 a kg at Karwanbazar wholesale on Thursday and it retailed at Tk 65-70 the same day, according to market sources.
Mr Kaykobad told the FE over phone that they were incurring a loss of Tk 5.0-7.0 per kg amid a fall in prices of brinjal during this peak harvesting period.
He is going to incur Tk 25,000-Tk 30,000 losses from his two bighas of land as prices of brinjal remain below the production costs this Ramadan.
However, traders blamed a rise in transport costs amid lockdown and an increase in waste of veg for a hike in prices in the city.
Consumer rights activists said many traders were making hefty profits for poor monitoring during shutdown.
Cucumber retailed at Tk 50-60 a kg, tomato at Tk 25-35, papaya at Tk 45-50, pointed gourd at Tk 45-50, bitter gourd, snake gourd, sponge gourd and ridge gourd at Tk 50-60, teasel gourd at Tk 75-90 on Thursday.
DAM data showed cucumber was sold at Tk 16-18 a kg at Gabtoli in Bogura and pointed gourd at Tk 12-14 at Belabo in Narsingdi.
Bitter gourd, snake gourd, sponge gourd and ridge gourd were traded at Tk 10-14 at Mithapukur and teasel gourd at Tk 37-38 a kg at Ghior, Manikganj.
DAM deputy director Dewan Asraful Hossain said the current vegetable prices in Dhaka are 18-20 per cent less than a year ago, but price gap between village and city retail has increased further.
Many farmers in Nilphamari district were selling local varieties of brinjal only at Tk 7.0-8.0 a kg which are trading at Tk 50 a kg in Dhaka, he added.
Mr Hossain said supply disruptions amid the lockdown have been creating such price distortions in the total value chain, affecting both farmers and consumers.
He said transportation of farm produce should be smoother for a sound supply chain
The Consumers Association of Bangladesh secretary Humayun Kabir Bhuiyan said many traders are taking advantage of the lockdown to make more profits.
He suggested that the government conduct strict market monitoring to minimise the price gap between farmers' end and city consumers' level.
Uttar Karwanbazar Babosayee Janokalyan Samity secretary Jamal Uddin Babul told the FE that transportation costs have increased two and a half times during this lockdown.
He said they are paying truck fare of Tk 32,000-34,000 for carrying 12 tonnes of veg from Mahasthangarh, Bogura to Dhaka which was maximum Tk 14,000 in normal times.
Mainul Hossain, a trader at Sadeq Khan Agri Market in Rayerbazar-Beribadh area, said 30-40 per cent vegetables are being wasted daily for low demand.
It is forcing traders to raise prices to minimise losses.
According to the DAM, Dhaka's residents consume 20 per cent or above 2.4 million tonnes of vegetables annually of the total output of 12.1 million tonnes.
An estimated 7,000-8,000 tonnes of vegetables enter Dhaka city daily on average from distant areas.