Traders and wholesalers in the capital yesterday said the price of vegetables will see further rise in the days ahead as most of the cultivable lands are under floodwater and the leafy vegetables get rotten quickly.

Prices of lal shak, mula shak, pui shak, palong shak (spinach) - all saw sharp rise after the flood hit the country.

The price of lal shak has risen to Tk 60 from Tk 30 per kilogram (kg) while the price of mula shak from Tk 18 to Tk 32 per kg. Pui shak sold at Tk 20 yesterday, which was Tk 10 last week.

Best quality palong shak (spinach), which has hit the market only two days back, is selling at Tk 75 per kg.

Bean that came to market recently sold at Tk 120 per kg while cabbage and cauliflower sold at Tk 15 to 20 per kg yesterday.

The price of unripe sweet gourd (medium size) has doubled in the last couple of days, rising to Tk 30 to 40 from Tk 15 to 20. Prices of jhinga, dhundal, long beans, pui shak, kachur lati, radish, and patal rose by Tk 2 to 3 in last few days.

Best quality gourd sold at Tk 50 to 60 a piece and aubergine sold at Tk 30 to 50 per kg at different kitchen markets.

Imran Sarder, a mason at Bangla Motor, was looking for vegetables on the pavement of Karwan Bazar.

He said he could not buy sufficient vegetables for their seven-member mess yesterday.

They have to pay Tk 350 to buy daily essentials whereas Tk 200 was enough to buy the essentials in the last month, he said adding that lion's share of the money goes to buy vegetables.

"I did not see such unusual increase in the prices of vegetables during the last few years," he said.

Maksud Reza, an employee of a private bank, said, "The prices of vegetables have gone beyond my capacity. What can we middle class families do? It has become impossible for us to afford the essentials."

Price of dry chilli rose by Tk 30 per kg.

Meanwhile prices of rice, lentil, edible oil, flour, fish, egg and other essentials also rose slightly from last week.

While visiting different retail and wholesale kitchen markets in the city yesterday The Daily Star correspondents found severe shortage of supply of vegetables.

When asked about the reason behind the price hike of vegetables, Jahangir Hossain, a wholesaler of Karwan Bazar, said they have to pay higher prices to buy vegetables.

"The purchase of vegetables has declined sharply... Now I am buying below 20 maunds a day while I used to buy 100 maunds before the flood," he said.