THE sharp price hike of essential food items — including all types of vegetables, meat, lentils and eggs — in the capital’s kitchen markets has cut the customers pocket deeply and entangled them in the mid of balance between income and expenditure. Though vegetables production in monsoon receded usually, this year torrential rains triggered by Cyclone Komen flooded croplands in 30 districts in the country’s southeast and southwest regions that wasted vegetable lands, resulted in price hike. Excusing the monsoon, thus comparatively low supply of vegetables, greedy and mountebank traders have hoarded essential products and ask for multitude prices. The Government or the Consumers’ Association of Bangladesh (CAB) have no monitoring and control over the bitter burdensome price hike or resuming alternative supply of essentials. Ordinary people are pinched as the budgetary allocation for food exceeded and compelled them to consume less and cut budgets for health, education or clothes, etc.A National daily on Friday reported that millions of poor and middle-income people in the capital and elsewhere severely affected as the prices of most cooking items have shot up over the past two weeks and it’s been cutting deep into their pockets. After remaining stable in recent months, prices of vegetables, eggs and some varieties of fish are recently giving people a hard time. Most vegetables on Thursday are sold for Tk 50-60 per kilo in city markets, up by Tk 10 to 15 a kg compared to the prices last week and the week before. According to Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), around 20 percent of the 87,815 hectares of vegetable fields in these districts have been damaged or affected by waterlogging and flash floods. The districts include Jessore, Jhenidah, Comilla, Narsingdi, Meherpur and Kushtia. Taking opportunity of disruption of supply and hamper of production, traders have hiked the prices of eggs, lentils and onions though there is no direct link between their supply and the flood. Recently, demands for eggs have increased as people turned to it as the only source of protein because of sharp rise in the prices of beef and mutton. In February this year, beef price went up by about 40 percent after India tightened security at its borders almost stalling smuggling of cattle into Bangladesh. In the last few years, the government could not keep the price stability when there was a crisis in supply-demand equation of a particular item or a group of essentials. However, there was an apparent macro-stability of the economy. Economists said the country’s macroeconomic stability, exchange rate stability, stable global commodity markets (particularly decrease of fuel price at international market) and a rise in domestic production helped the government somehow to maintain the price stability. It will be advisable to take programme to grow early winter vegetables in this late monsoon by using biotechnology. Moreover, the government must restore the supply as early as possible with drive against hoarders who spook the prices of essentials. But it should be certainly without disturbing the normal rules of conducting business by the private sector stakeholders.
