While vegetable prices at farms have dropped in the past two weeks, retail customers in Dhaka hardly reaped the benefits thanks to 80-450 per cent price gaps between fields and city kitchen markets. The gap is attributed to a weak and outdated value chain, lacking proper regulation.
For instance, one a farmer from Rangpur district was selling cauliflowers to city traders for Tk15-18 per piece last week. However, the same cauliflower fetched Tk22-26 in Rangpur, Tk38-40 in Dhaka's Karwan Bazar and eventually reached Tk45-60 at the capital's retail markets on Sunday. All the while, the Department of Agricultural Marketing (DAM) says the maximum production cost of cauliflower this year is Tk11 per piece. Similar price discrepancies were found for other vegetables.
This story echoes across winter vegetables like cabbage, tomato, bean, radish, leafy greens, carrot, green chilli, pumpkin, potato and more.
[ Tk 100 =€0.84 ]
Source: today.thefinancialexpress.com.bd