Soaring prices of essentials
The talk of the day is the rising prices of essentials. Wherever one goes, whatever subject one talks about one hears the topic invariably almost everywhere, especially in tea stalls. You open a newspaper and you will find this as news, letters to the editors, articles highlighting plight of the middle class and lower middle class people and so on. The leading economists have varied and often diverse opinions regarding the causes of the price hike. As a lay man, I think the price of a particular thing depends on (a) Production costs, (b) Carrying/Transportation costs and (c) Free marketing (syndication free). For agro-based items, production costs depend on a. Seeds b. Fertilisers. c. Irrigation and d. Pesticide (not encouraged). Easy and cheap availability of these items will definitely reduce the costs of production, as costs of labour are too low. The government's input here is to ensure supply of good quality seeds, making available the required quantity of fertilisers and water for irrigation where/when required. Barendra project of North Bengal is a shining example. For long term benefits, research should be a continuous process. Next is transportation. With the rise of fuel price the costs of transportation have also gone up. The costs of transportation by road from remote areas, say Dinajpur on the north to Dhaka city, will be very high. Compared to road, transport by rail and river is cheaper. So, if railway is provided with refrigerated containers it can bring fresh/perishable items to Dhaka at a very cheap rate. There is another price tag in overall transportation costs i.e. carrying goods in push-carts from the wholesale market to retail market. This keeps on varying with different factors which include fixed costs plus hartal costs plus extortion and systems loss on the way. To reduce all these transportation costs, Tongi Railway Junction should be the major wholesale market for goods carried by railway. Transportation by truck from places of shorter distances like Mymensingh, Comilla should continue. Goods carried on rooftop of the bus may be allowed, provided that is not unsafe. Full advantage of the local trains running between Dhaka-Mymensingh, Dhaka-Comilla should be taken for carrying fresh vegetables from these areas. The next factor that I think influences the market is ease of marketing/selling. Unauthorised toll collection must be checked. Today Dhaka city has a population of over ten million, so, there should be minimum ten wholesale markets spread evenly all over Dhaka, depending on density of population. This will also bring the wholesale markets near to the retail shops, thus reducing extra costs of carrying by vans and push-carts. Dhaka is surrounded by a green belt. Small farmers should be able to sell their produce directly to the consumers. If these steps are taken it is hoped that the situation will ease to a great extent. Finally, we are to remember that we have little control over the import-dependent items, except that we may consume less of it.
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