More families turn to TCB as poverty deepens

At 2:12pm, a Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) truck was parked by the roadside under Kazipara Metro Station in Dhaka.

Two long queues stretched beside it, mostly women from fixed- and low-income families waiting patiently to buy essential food items at subsidised prices.

Under the TCB Truck Sales programme, each customer can buy up to two litres of soybean oil at Tk 115 per litre, two kilograms of lentils at Tk 70 per kilogram, one kilogram of sugar at Tk 80, one kilogram of chickpeas at Tk 60, and half a kilogram of dates at Tk 80 -- all for Tk 550 -- from TCB trucks.

In the kitchen markets, the same items combined would cost around Tk 950. For many, the Tk 400 savings means the difference between coping and going hungry.

Sitting on a rickshaw near the queue was 40-year-old Nasir Khan, crutches leaning against the side of the vehicle and his left leg wrapped in plaster. He once earned his living driving a rickshawvan carrying waste. Around four months ago, the van overturned and crushed his leg. He has been unemployed since.

He came with his wife, Mahinur Begum, who works as a domestic helper in three households and earns Tk 9,000 a month. With two school-going daughters and no income from him since the accident, the family has been struggling.

Nasir said, “It’s really impossible for us to live like this with two daughters in school. If I get this TCB package, it will be slightly helpful.”

Mahinur repeatedly tried to get the attention of TCB officials, asking if her sick husband could receive the package without standing in the long queue. Considering Nasir’s physical condition, officials handed them the package after half an hour.

A few steps away stood Md Shakil, a green coconut seller from Mohammadpur Geneva Camp. He joined the queue at 11:00am and received his package at 2:30pm.

“For this package, I had to wait four hours. I had to close my coconut stall, which caused me losses. However, I was lucky to get the package.”

Their stories reflect a larger reality.

Food inflation, which affects ordinary Bangladeshis the most, rose to 8.29 percent in January, up nearly 0.6 percentage points from December, according to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics.

Prices of essential food items have been rising in recent months. After easing to 7.08 percent in October from 7.64 percent in September, food inflation climbed again over the next three months.

The mounting pressure is pushing more families into poverty. A 2025 World Bank report projected that the national poverty rate would rise to 22.9 percent that year, from 18.7 percent in 2022.

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The share of people living in extreme poverty, earning below $2.15 a day, is expected to nearly double to 9.3 percent, potentially pushing an additional 3 million people into extreme hardship. However, the report forecasts some easing in 2026.

According to findings presented in August last year by the Power and Participation Research Centre, the rise has been even sharper. Nearly 28 percent of the population is now poor, compared to 18.7 percent in 2022.

The share of people living in extreme poverty has increased to 9.35 percent this year from 5.6 percent three years ago, meaning about one in 10 survives in extreme poverty. One in four people lives below the poverty line.

Another 18 percent are classified as vulnerable non-poor, at risk of slipping into poverty.

Now with Ramadan ongoing, TCB launched its nationwide truck sale programme on February 17 to ease the suffering. The initiative will continue until March 12, excluding Fridays and public holidays.

TCB officials said that in the capital alone, essential commodities are being sold daily at 50 designated locations. Across the country, 450 mobile trucks, each carrying enough supplies for 400 families, operate daily to provide subsidised goods to low-income consumers.

Over the 20-day campaign, TCB aims to distribute 23,000 tonnes of essentials to an estimated 35 lakh consumers nationwide.

According to Public Food Distribution data from the food ministry, from July 1, 2024, to February 20, 2025, the ministry distributed 17.64 lakh tonnes of food. This amount increased to 19.93 lakh tonnes, but the queues in front of the trucks keep getting longer.

The Daily Star tried to contact TCB Chairman Brigadier General Mohammad Foyshol Azad for comment but received no response.

Meanwhile, for 70-year-old consumer Mulkuch Bibi, the TCB truck is not just a government programme but a lifeline.

On Wednesday night, before going to bed, she placed her grocery bag beside her and kept her water container ready to collect water from a WASA ATM booth. That day, her household had run out of cooking oil, sugar, and chickpeas.

“If I cannot buy goods from the TCB truck tomorrow, I will not be able to purchase other essential items,” she told this paper that night.

After finishing sehri and resting briefly, she collected water and reached the Kazipara Metro Station spot shortly after 8:00am. By then, 33 people were already ahead of her in the queue.

Weighed down by age, she struggled to stand for hours and eventually sat on the metro station stairs to rest. The truck arrived around 10:00am, and she purchased the goods around noon.

“My husband passed away 27 years ago. Since then, I’ve been living with my daughter and son-in-law. Both of them are garment workers, and their combined income barely covers household expenses.

“With the money we save from purchasing essentials here, we can buy other necessary items. Otherwise, it will be very difficult.”

Minuara Begum, a resident of Mollapara in Dhaka’s Agargaon, arrived at the TCB truck in Sher-e-Bangla Nagar at 9:00am. With no one else to care for her child, she brought her one-year-old along.

At one point during her wait, she was seen breastfeeding her baby standing in the queue. “There’s no one at home to look after my child, and it’s difficult to manage the household on my husband’s income. That’s why I had to come to buy goods from the TCB truck and also bring my baby along.”

The truck reached the spot around 12:15pm, and she completed her purchases around 2:30pm.

Talking to The Daily Star, Selim Raihan, professor of economics at Dhaka University and executive director of SANEM, said, “People are under significant pressure due to prolonged high inflation over the past three years, especially low-income groups.

“In that context, the current scale of TCB operations is insufficient compared to people’s needs. We expect the new government to expand the coverage and find more effective ways to reach a larger number of vulnerable people.”

He added, “Many working-class people have to spend hours in line, sometimes losing half a day’s income. That creates additional financial losses for them. Special arrangements can be made for workers, particularly in factory areas, so that they can access these goods more easily.

“Even informal workers such as rickshaw pullers, small shop employees and others in labour-intensive jobs should be targeted through area-based programmes. If distribution is expanded to places where low-income populations are concentrated, it would reduce their suffering and provide some relief during this difficult time.”

The Daily Star tried to reach Khandaker Abdul Muktadir, minister for commerce, for comment but received no response.