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Blockade hits farmers hard

Suman Saha
Md Selim, a farmer from Chuadanga, looked anxious due to a thin presence of customers at the city's Karwan Bazar kitchen market yesterday afternoon.
On normal days, he brings his vegetables to Karwan Bazar to sell in bulk. The wholesale hub supplies vegetables and other items to kitchen markets across the city.
But as traders from different kitchen markets could hardly reach Karwan Bazar due to the ongoing blockade, Selim, in a desperate bid, started selling his cauliflowers to passers-by, at throwaway prices.
"I have cut the prices by a half," Selim said, standing on a truck he hired at exorbitant fares to bring the vegetable item from Chuadanga.
He was selling cauliflowers at Tk 10-Tk 12 apiece, down from Tk 25-Tk 30 a few
days ago.
"I am worried about recovering the transport fares, not about profit," said Selim, a father of three.
Transport fares have more than doubled due to the blockade, Selim said. On a normal day, farmers pay Tk 12,000-Tk 15,000 for carrying 15 tonnes of goods from Chuadanga to Dhaka. "But now, I have to payTk 35,000."
Selim, who cultivated seasonal vegetables such as cauliflower, cabbage and radish on four acres of land, said he was compelled to come to Dhaka.
"The harvesting time was running out. Any delay would mean immense losses," the 43-year-old farmer said.
Not only Selim, many other farmers were seen selling popular winter vegetables at astonishingly low prices at Karwan Bazar.
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A piece of cabbage was selling at Tk 12-Tk 15, and radish atTk 10 a kilogram, half the prices those were being sold a few days ago.
"It's the pick season for winter vegetables. So, many farmers are bringing the items to Dhaka paying higher transport fares," said Lokman Hossain, general secretary of Karwan Bazar Kitchen Market Wholesalers Association.
Around 200 vegetables trucks entered Karwan Bazar early yesterday, he said.
Onion, however, was selling at higher prices. Some retailers were selling locally-grown onion at as much as Tk 100 a kilogram yesterday, up from Tk 80 on Friday. Prices of imported onion rose to Tk 70-Tk 80 fromTk 50-Tk 55 on Friday.