Bangladesh: Syndicates of middlemen to be broken to arrest vegetable price hike

Agriculture Secretary Md Sayedul Islam said on Sunday the government started working to reduce high prices of vegetables by dismantling syndicate of middlemen. "We have started working by incorporating district administrations and the Department of Agriculture Marketing to find out where the middlemen are present. After that, the government will take initiatives to reduce vegetable prices," he told the media at his Bangladesh Secretariat office in the capital. Blaming the middlemen for the present high prices of vegetables, he said due to their unscrupulous activities, the consumers in the capital had to purchase vegetables at prices between Tk 60 and Tk 70 a kg, which ranged from Tk 10 to Tk 20 a kg at Palashbari in Gaibandha district. "The Ministry of Agriculture is working (research) to find out the causes of vegetable price hike. So far, the information we've got clearly indicate that the middlemen are mainly responsible for it. We're working to check their activities." Mr ...