http://www.newagebd.com/2008/may/08/front.html#20
New Age, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Potato campaign launched to ease pressure on rice
Staff Correspondent
A three-day =91Bangladesh Potato Campaign 2008=92 was launched on
Wednesday to encourage farmers in growing the vegetable that promoters
believe can reduce pressure on rice.
=91We are not asking the people to change their food habits, but if
consumption of potato is increased, it will reduce pressure on rice=92,
said agriculture adviser CS Karim while kicking off the national
campaign at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Center.
The government launched the campaign in the wake of a bumper
production of potato this season.
According to the statistics of the Department of Agriculture
Extension, the production of potato this year was nearly 92.37 lakh
metric tonnes from 5.2 lakh hectares compared to 44 lakh metric tonnes
from 3.9 lakh hectares last season. The increase in production this
year was about 40 per cent. Potato production in 2001-02 was only 35
lakh MT from 3.25 lakh hectares.
=91People look for alternatives during food crisis in every country
and as we have a bumper potato harvest, a little change in food habit
will help increase its consumption=92, said the chief of army staff,
General Moeen U Ahmed.
An increase in potato intake will provide a double benefit =96 it
will help the farmers who have reaped a bumper harvest and there will
be a decline in the demand for the high-priced rice, Moeen said.
FAO representative AD Spijkers and a representative from potato
farmers addressed the inaugural function of the campaign organised
jointly by FAO and the army=92s CSD Bangladesh. Agriculture secretary M
Abdul Aziz chaired it.
The bumper potato harvest has created storage problems as the 16
cold storages of the Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation
have a maximum capacity of nearly 20 lakh MT while the nearly 300 cold
storages in the private sector can store another 22 lakh MT.
The additional production of nearly 30 lakh MT cannot be exhausted
quickly even if consumption increases considerably, the agriculture
secretary noted in his speech and stressed the need for the farmers=92
awareness about techniques to store potato in household conditions for
at least three months.
There has been a surplus production of potato this year throughout
the world and the United Nations has declared 2008 as the =91World
Potato Year=92 urging the people to eat more of the starchy vegetable.
The per capita consumption of potato in the developed countries is
about 100 kilogram compared to only 24 kg in Bangladesh.
The 3-day national campaign includes display and free sampling of
potato products by top food processing companies, restaurants and
hotels at the stalls set up at the BCFCC.
Rally, talk shows, cooking competitions, and a number of cultural
programmes, including concerts, are also part of the campaign to
promote consumption of potato.
Free distribution of ice-cream and also spicy items made of potato
by the army-run five-star Radisson hotel attracted a large number of
visitors at their stall on the opening day of the campaign.
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