Will winter vegetables become out of reach too?

While consumers are still reeling from the shock of the skyrocketing price of onions, despite supplies coming in from abroad, now they are faced with another rude awakening. Vegetables, especially the ones that are usually abundant in winter, have become very expensive. According to a report in this daily yesterday, apart from old potato and papaya, no vegetable could be bought below Tk 40 in weight or in piece. Cooking spices and other essentials such as rice have also experienced price hikes. For people from lower-income groups, buying food items has become very stressful as they are being forced to significantly cut down or do without certain items that are becoming out of reach. We understand that a shortage of supply has led to the abnormal prices of onions but why have other essentials such as vegetables been affected too?  

According to a wholesaler quoted in a report, vegetable cultivation has suffered due to rainfall in October and Cyclone Bulbul earlier this month. While climatic factors will always play a role in cultivation, we cannot help but wonder why this apparent shortfall in supply of vegetables has coincided with the hike in the price of onions. Other wholesalers have said that the recent transport strike, during which covered vans were kept off the roads, caused a temporary shortage as vegetables could not be transported to the capital. 

It goes without saying that nutrition is significantly compromised when people have to cut down on essentials like vegetables, which are often the only items (besides rice) that people from lower-income brackets can afford. Over the years, the prices of meat and fish have consistently gone up making them luxury items for the poor. This month, there were reports of the price of rice being hiked by rice mill owners.

Clearly, despite the government's efforts, prices of essentials are far from stable, which places unnecessary hardship on the people, most of whom have fixed incomes. We urge the government to take steps to keep prices of essentials, especially rice and vegetables, stable by making sure that they are not artificially hiked up by syndicates of unscrupulous middlemen and traders—which is usually the reason for this inflation. For the long term, cultivation of these items should be increased by more state support of farmers and ensuring that they get fair prices for their produce and grains.