THE interim government鈥檚 efforts to keep the kitchen market stable have not been successful, as prices of essentials continue to rise. The prices of almost all essential food items, including onions, eggs, broiler chickens and vegetables, remained high on August 15 in the capital鈥檚 kitchen markets. Broiler chickens are sold at Tk 170-180 per kilogram at retail markets, which was Tk 160-170 previously. Seasonal vegetables saw at least a Tk 20-30 increase per unit at neighbourhood markets. Traders reported that the markets had experienced a supply shortage of chicken and eggs due to excessive rainfall in recent weeks, which had impacted prices. When asked about the price increase of seasonal vegetables, traders blamed the weather conditions and said that during this time of the year, farmlands are damp or waterlogged, which limits vegetable cultivation and reduces supply. Supply disruption during monsoon is not an unexpected weather event. It only suggests that the traders use every excuse to arbitrarily increase commodity price. It also indicated that the government does not have an effective mechanism to project seasonal market demand and supply.
In an already struggling economy, price instability in the kitchen market made the survival of fixed- and low-income people even harder. With protein items increasingly becoming dearer, people usually rely on vegetables and broiler chicken, but that too is now beyond the means of many. A number of researches have indicated how food inflation has impacted people鈥檚 food intake and nutritional inequality. In 2022, a United Nations report showed that 73.5 per cent of Bangladeshis are unable to afford healthy food. A recent Bangladesh Garment Workers鈥� Solidarity study said that it is almost impossible for an apparel worker鈥檚 family of four to manage two meals a day. The murder and suicide of four of a farmer鈥檚 family depicts a grim reality of silent hunger and extreme poverty. A man, his wife, and their two children were found dead at their house in Rajshahi鈥檚 Paba upazila on August 15. Local police suspect that it was a case of murder and suicide driven by debt and hunger. The deaths in Rajshahi are not isolated. The Multidimensional Poverty Index, released by the General Economics Division in July, said that one in four people is poor and about 3.98 crore individuals suffer multidimensional poverty.
The government must, under the circumstances, take immediate steps to ensure price stability in the kitchen market. In doing so, it must improve its market monitoring mechanism so that unscrupulous traders cannot exploit weather conditions for higher profit. However, to arrest the growth of extreme poverty, it must address income inequality.
