Agriculture is the economic backbone of Bangladesh. But farmers say that numerous revolutionary reforms introduced in the sector over the past two decades have failed to bring any major change in their economic condition. The reason: The profiteering middlemen who buy fruits and vegetables at extremely low rates directly from farms, but jack up prices in further sales -- from distribution to retailing through commission agents and wholesalers. Read: UK announces £18m new funding to end child marriage in Bangladesh, 11 other countries And as this nexus takes a substantial chunk of profit from their produce, farmers are left with very little revenue in the agricultural market hierarchy in the country. Of course, consumers are also a casualty as they pay a higher value for the cheaper farm produce. Market analysts also blame the nexus of multi-layered middlemen involved in the distribution process for the huge gap in the prices of agricultural produce at farm and retail levels. Another reason being the high transportation cost to cities like Dhaka. In fact, vegetable prices are 100-300% higher in the kitchen markets of the capital than that at the farm level, according to the Department of Agricultural Marketing (DAM). This has already been admitted by the Bangladesh government. Agriculture Minister Dr Abdur Razzak had earlier said that "many people cannot afford sufficient vegetable intake due to high prices while the farmers are also not getting fair prices of their produce". Read: Remotest region to connect with broadband internet by 2025: Palak Farmers often throw away their vegetables when they find that the cost of production is higher than that of sales, according to the government. "We have to create a modern marketing system to eliminate this problem," he had said, adding "value-addition and market chain development are needed for this".