Cab Study on Vegetable Prices
Syndicates' incredible grip over prices
Raihan Sabuktagin
Vegetable prices in Dhaka's retail market are more than three times the prices in Shibpur, 80 kilometres off the city, as a syndicate of middlemen makes exorbitant profit, according to study by the Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB). The study conducted in the first week of this month reveals a staggering 336.29 percent increase, comparing the prices of 15 vegetables at the producers' level in Shibpur in Narsingdi district and the retail market in Dhaka. The huge gap between the prices at village and the city is largely because of the middlemen's syndicate. The increase is only 55.93 percent at Karwan Bazar wholesale market, but the prices jump by 172.02 percent when the products reach the retail market. Aubergine costs Tk 7.50 per kilogram at Shibpur while it is Tk 20 at Karwan Bazar. Cucumber sells at Tk 6 per kg at Shibpur while it rises to Tk 16 at Karwan Bazar. "Though the study was conducted at Shibpur in Narsingdi, one of the vegetable sources for Dhaka, the price differences are almost the same if we consider the markets in other places like Savar," said Quazi Faruque, general secretary of CAB. He said that CAB had conducted a similar study on the same issue two years ago at Shibpur and revealed the same price differences. During the studies the CAB found that the root level producers are not getting fare prices for their produces but the consumers in the city have to buy them at much higher prices. The prices increase to such an extent as the middlemen between the producers and the retail sellers in Dhaka are making exorbitant profit, Faruque said. The study revealed that the price of one kilogram of spinach is Tk 1 at Shibpur but it sells at around Tk 10 at Dhaka's retail market. Two years ago, the farmers of Shibpur used to sell one kilogram of spinach at 60 paisa. "The producers would lose their interest in future if they do not get fare prices and it might force us to import vegetables from abroad in future," Faruque said. He said the government should have some price control mechanism to reduce the gap between the prices at wholesale markets in villages and the retail market in Dhaka. The influence of the middlemen must be checked. Forming cooperatives of the producers could be a solution that would facilitate marketing their products in the wholesale markets in Dhaka bypassing the middlemen. "The government is providing subsidy to the farmers but if they do not get a considerable price of their products, I think the subsidy would not help them," Faruque said.
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