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Flood used as excuse

Vegetable traders raise prices in city claiming inadequate supply though major supply areas unaffected by flood

Gazi Towhid Ahmed
Vegetable traders in kitchen markets across Dhaka are using the floods in the northern region as an excuse to charge higher prices.
Consumers are bearing the brunt of inflated prices that traders blame on disruptions to the supply chain.
Popular vegetables like green chilli, aubergine, pointed gourd, sponge gourd, spine gourd and ridge gourd come to Dhaka from the northern parts of Bangladesh, accounting for 30 percent of the demand for vegeta-
bles in Dhaka.
However, there is an adequate supply of vegetables in Dhaka from other areas like Comilla, Savar, Narsingdi and Manikganj.
"The supply chain has been disrupted as floodwaters have spoiled most vegetable fields in the region," alleged Lokman Hossain, general secretary of Karwan Bazar Khuddro Kachamal Aarot Babshayi Bahumukhi Samabay Samity, an association of kitchen market retailers.
Demand is high while supply is
low and that is taking a toll on the consumers, said Hossain.
From last week, the price of green chilli soared by Tk 40 to stand at Tk 120 a kilogram, aubergine by Tk 20 to Tk 80, ridge gourd by Tk 20 to Tk 60, pointed gourd byTk 10 toTk 40, spine gourd by Tk 10 to Tk 50, and sponge gourd byTk 10 toTk 50.
Most traders are charging higher prices for vegetables than the prices given by the Department of Agricultural Marketing.
Manik Dev, a businessman, bought
500 grams of green chilli for Tk 60 at the New Market kitchen market. ”1 had to pay an extra Tk 20 for half a kg of green chilli today compared to last week.”
There too, retailers blamed the price hike on the floods.
"We are paying extra, between Tk 5 to Tk 30 a kg, to buy vegetables from wholesalers," he said. Prices may increase further next week for the flood situation, he added.
Swelling rivers in the country's north inundated many areas, leaving people displaced and houses, schools, and croplands submerged.
In five eastern upazilas of Bogra, 334 hectares of vegetable fields were flooded, according to the Department of Agriculture Extension.
Hossain Sheikh, a 70-year-old farmer in Purba Bhoronshahi of Dhunat upazila, cultivated aubergine on 10 decimals of land. But the floods crushed his hopes of a good yield.
"The croplands are completely damaged now," said Sheikh.
At least 54,000 hectares of arable land are flooded in five upazilas of Sirajganj.
"If vegetable fields remain under water for three to four days, the produce is damaged,” said Naimul Islam, an agriculture official of Sirajganj district.
Flood waters also hit transport businesses, said Rustom Ali Khan, general secretary of Bangladesh Truck-Covered Van Owners' Association.
The movement of trucks and covered vans on the roads in the northern regions fell by 25 percent owing to the floods, he said. “Like the consumers, we too are counting losses."