Vegetable prices have been rising at the capital's kitchen markets for about a month, making it even harder for low-income people to afford a balanced diet.

Officials say vegetable production has not been satisfactory because heavy rains damaged the farms.

Unscrupulous businesspeople are taking advantage of the production crunch and making additional profit by hiking the prices, they added.

Ashraf Uddin, additional director (monitoring and implementation) at the Department of Agricultural Extension, said there was no justification for the way the prices were rising.

At kitchen markets in the city, eggplants sold for Tk 90-100 a kg yesterday, up from Tk 60-70 a month ago.

A kg of bitter gourd was around Tk 130, nearly double the price in mid-June.

On June 13, the prices of each kg of okra and pointed gourd were Tk 40 and Tk 35 respectively. On Thursday, these summer vegetables were sold for between Tk 60 and Tk 70 a kg.

The spicy green chilli still costs Tk 320 a kg, which is beyond the reach of people with limited income.

A couple of days after Eid last month, the price of green chilli rose past Tk 700 a kg. After the government allowed its import, the price began to drop.

Thankfully, the price of potatoes dropped by Tk 5 to Tk 40 each kg over the past week.

At Jatrabari kitchen market, street vendor Shafiq yesterday told this correspondent that he went there with Tk 300 to buy essentials. But after buying rice, lentils and fish, he had only Tk 50 left with which he bought 500 grams of pointed gourd and two small bundles of spinach.

"I wanted to buy three vegetable items. But the prices are too high," said the breadwinner of a four member family.

Humayun Kabir Bhuiyan, general secretary of Consumer Association of Bangladesh, told a press conference in the capital last week that a syndicate of unscrupulous businesspeople was responsible for the rising prices of essentials.

The syndicate is making crores of taka by creating fake crises of edible oil, sugar, onion, ginger, eggs, and green chilli, he said.

Mofidul Islam, deputy director (Dhaka division) of the Department of Agriculture Marketing, said rains damaged vegetables, and that resulted in price hike.

"The prices will drop in the coming weeks," he added.