Untapped power of consumers

Tuesday 23rd January, 2024

Sri Lankan ministers are never short of lame excuses, which they are adept at fabricating. Never do they own up to their blunders, which have landed the country in the current predicament. When the economy went into a tailspin, they promptly blamed the war in Ukraine and the Covid-19 pandemic, but other countries did not face insolvency due to those global factors. They have undertaken to put the economy back on an even keel, but the question is whether those who cannot even manage the agricultural sector properly are equal to the task of achieving economic revival.

Agriculture Minister Mahinda Amaraweera has drawn heavy flak for concocting a theory to absolve the government of the blame for doing nothing to prevent the escalation of vegetable prices. He argued, the other day, that torrential rains had lashed all parts of the country for months, and therefore there had been a shortfall in the supply of vegetables, causing huge price increases. It would take some time for the prices of perishables to come down to the previous levels, he predicted, asking the public not to curse him.

Interestingly, no sooner had Amaraweera made that claim than the vegetable prices began to drop! The price of a kilo of carrot, which had gone up to about Rs. 2,500 a few days ago, came down to about Rs. 600 at the Dambulla Economic Centre yesterday. It is expected to decrease further, according to vegetable wholesalers. What has Minister Amaraweera got to say to this?

True, inclement weather causes temporary increases in vegetable prices, but the current situation is very unusual; it has obviously come about due to market manipulation by the politically-backed traders’ Mafia. Vegetable growers have been complaining that they have to dispose of their produce at extremely low prices although the retail prices of greens have gone through the roof. This alone is proof that market intermediaries are making a killing at the expense of both the producer and the consumer, and the government is not doing anything to tame these elements and protect the interests of the public.

Vegetable prices have shown a downward trend because the demand for greens has gone down drastically over the past several days. Consumers did not organise themselves against the traders’ Mafia, but it so happened that their decision to cut down on vegetable consumption owing to extremely high prices put paid to market manipulations. Previously, the public reacted in a similar manner when the prices of biscuits were jacked up. They reduced biscuit consumption. When huge stocks of biscuits remained unsold on shelves, their prices dropped.

In this day and age, it is not difficult to organise consumers against the market intermediaries who exploit the farming community and the public alike, with impunity. This is a task for the various consumer rights groups that conduct public protests. Instead of making noises, they ought to take action. The media, both mainstream and social, can be used to raise public awareness of the exploitative practices adopted by middlemen as well as producers in some cases and make consumers curtail the consumption of the products whose prices are kept artificially high.

If consumers are inspired to assert their power, they will be able to bring the egg Mafia, as well, to its knees in next to no time. If the demand for eggs drops considerably and remains low for a couple of weeks, the unscrupulous egg wholesalers will be compelled to bring egg prices to an affordable level or destroy their stocks. This is the only language the traders’ Mafia understands. The same modus operandi can be adopted to deal with other exploiters such as the trishaw fraternity and the bakers’ Mafia.