Blockade hits vegetable supply chain in city

Shamsul Huda | Published: January 16, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00

The ongoing blockade has badly affected the supply chain of vegetables and other perishable items in the city markets pushing up their prices.
According to a wholesale association source, supply from the northern districts has declined by more than 50 per cent whereas that from the nearby districts of Dhaka is still normal.
He said the number of trucks and pickups carrying vegetables, fruits and some other daily commodities have reduced by 60 per cent causing price hikes of the major perishable and several non-perishable items.
During spot visits to some wholesale markets this correspondent found that prices of vegetables have increased by 30 per cent, fruits 20 per cent, onion 8-10 per cent, garlic 10 per cent, ginger 15 per cent and some other items 10-20 per cent.
Office Assistant of North Karwan Bazar Beboshayi o Jono Kollyan Samity, Abdul Matin, said before blockade more than 500 trucks used to come to this wholesale market every
night of which more than 60 per cent were from the northern districts. He said currently trucks are coming mainly from Savar, Manikganj, Gazipur, Munshiganj, Bikrampur, Narajanganj and some other places adjacent to Dhaka.
Mr Matin said though some trucks are coming from the northern districts to Dhaka, their transport costs are almost double now.
He said availability of vegetables has declined by more than 50 per cent but the supply of some fruits and spicy products (onion, ginger, garlic and others) are normal at this moment due to previous stocks.
Proprietor of Liza Enterprise, Md Mafiz Miah said, "I do not have enough vegetables to sell at wholesale prices."
He said besides the number of trucks, customers are also declining due to blockade.
He said, "At present the fare of a truck carrying goods from Dinajpur to Dhaka is Tk 25,000 which was Tk 12,000 to Tk 14,000 several days back." Meanwhile, traders in Babubazar, Thatari Bazar and Wise Ghat said goods-carrying trucks having got stuck up on the borders, fruits and spicy items are not adequately available with them. So if the blockade continues, the stock situation may worsen within next several days.
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