The poor priced out of fresh veggies

The prices of almost all vegetables have crossed the Tk 100-mark, piling pressure on the poor and the low-income segment already battling with a cost of living crisis for the past two years.

From brinjal to bitter guard, long beans to spiny bitter gourd, from sponge gourd to bottle gourd, all now cost upwards of Tk 100 a kg after prices shot up by Tk 20-30 in a week because of the monsoon.

Nasir Uddin, a fresh vegetable trader at Ibrahimpur kitchen market, said his sales have decreased by one-third due to the price hike.

"I am known for selling fresh vegetables. For the last few days, due to the price hike, many of my customers have been unable to buy fresh vegetables," he said.

Many other vegetable traders in the capital's Shewrapara, Ibrahimpur, Kochukhet, Farmgate, and Karwan Bazar kitchen markets echoed the same.

This has left the poor and the low-income group to make do with the low-quality, stale vegetables.

Low-quality vegetables often exhibit signs of spoilage such as wilting, discolouration and a lack of flavour, making them less desirable for consumption.

Thanks to the sudden spike in demand for stale vegetables, even their prices have increased by Tk 10-15 a kg in the capital's kitchen markets.

"How will we survive if stale vegetables become dear?" said Ramij Ali, a rickshaw driver who buys low-quality vegetables from the Farmgate kitchen market.

Food inflation stood at 10.42 percent in June, the third straight month to witness double-digit figures.

If the prices rise the way they have, Ramij might have to cut out vegetables from his diet. "Vegetables were the last option we had," he said.

Bablu Miah, who sells low-quality vegetables near the Ibrahimpur kitchen market, acknowledged that the prices have surged by Tk 10-15 a kg within one week.

He sells brinjal at Tk 80-100 per kg, whereas the fresh ones are selling at Tk 100-140 per kg.

The long beans at his stall cost Tk 80-100 per kg; the fresh ones are selling for Tk 100-120 in the kitchen markets.

Bablu is selling stale spiny bitter gourd for Tk 80-90 per kg, whereas the high-quality ones cost Tk 100-120 per kg.

He is charging Tk 70-80 a kg for the low-quality sponge gourd at his stall, whereas the fresh ones can be found at Tk 120-130 a kg.

The vegetable wholesalers though maintain they have no other option but to give in to the law of demand and supply.

"We used to bring vegetables from Manikganj but due to the continuous rains, all vegetable fields are submerged," said Mohammad Yeasin, a vegetable wholesaler at Karwan Bazar.

So the prices have gone up, he added.

Nowhere was this more evident than in the case of green chilli, whose price have surged by as much as Tk 100 a kg in a week. Green chillies are now selling for Tk 240-320 per kg.

"We only received 20 kg of green chillies from Rangpur three days ago -- we are now mostly dependent on imported green chillies," said Selim Hasan, a green chilli trader at Karwan Bazar.