A group of students in Patuakhali are buying vegetables directly from farmers and selling them at the same price to low-income people through temporary markets set up in different parts of the town. Run on a voluntary basis and started a few days ago, the cheap market has already become quite popular. Its organisers say ordinary people can now buy vegetables somewhat more cheaply, and the grip of middlemen on the market has eased considerably.

At a time when the prices of daily essentials are unbearable and low-income people are struggling to buy what they need, a voluntary organisation called Patuakhalibashi has taken the initiative to sell vegetables and other essentials at the price paid to farmers.

Members of the organisation, made up of students from various educational institutions in the town, buy vegetables directly from village farmers and sell them at the same price in different areas of Patuakhali town. Low-income people have expressed relief at being able to buy vegetables cheaply.

Over the past few days the market has been set up at the Shaheed Alauddin Children's Park, the launch ghat, Kathpatti and other crowded areas where many low-income people live. Bottle gourd, gourd leaves, Malabar spinach, pointed gourd, papaya, ridge gourd, green banana, eggs, milk and other daily vegetables are sold every day.

Rahima Begum, a resident of Kathpatti, said: "Everything in the market is very expensive, but today I bought vegetables a bit cheaper. I bought gourd leaves here for Tk 40, which sell for Tk 60 in the market. A hali of eggs sells for Tk 55 in the market, but here they are selling at Tk 50. A hali of green bananas sells for Tk 40 in the local market, but we bought it for Tk 20 from the students' cheap market."

The organisers said that because vegetables are bought every day directly from farmers, the farmers are also getting a fair price for their produce, while ordinary people can buy cheaply. That is why the market is set up in areas where more low-income people live.

The organisation's president, Mahmudul Hasan Raihan, said running the market regularly does not cost them much. "The market is held in a different part of town each day. We announce in advance where and when tomorrow's market will be. Whatever we buy from farmers' fields on a given day is sold at the same price. The students work as volunteers, and we bear the transport costs ourselves. Many people are benefiting from this. Essentially we are connecting farmers and consumers directly, cutting out the syndicates and middlemen in the market," he said.

The organisation earlier won praise for delivering food to homes during the coronavirus pandemic, supplying oxygen cylinders to patients, and setting out iftar for passers-by beside the road during Ramadan.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.