The New Nation - Internet Edition

UNB, Dhaka

A three-day national-level fair aimed at promoting the consumption of potato among people will be held May 7-9 at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre (BCFCC), as there has been reaped a bumper harvest of this food item.

The potato fair, organized by the Canteen Stores Department (CSD) of Defense in association with the Ministry of Agriculture and UN food agency FAO, will be inaugurated at a state-level function at the Hall of Fame of BCFCC on May 7.

A press conference will be held at 12 noon on May 5 at Trust Milanayatan adjacent to Captain's World for declaration of the Potato Campaign 2008, a Defense Ministry release said Saturday.

Chief of Army Staff General Moeen U Ahmed has taken the initiative to campaign about more consumption of potato with a point of view that a move towards habituating potatoes with rice could certainly reduce excessive pressure on rice and also could save a huge amount of foreign currency that goes for rice import.

The release said the campaign is not only directed to promoting consumption of potato over bumper production this year but also with the declaration of United Nation's 'Potato Year' 2008.

The campaign has been organized at a great magnitude to support the government's contingency while overcoming the almost inevitable crisis the country's potato farmers are likely to confront, the release said.

"A three-million-ton additional production of potato has virtually pushed the farmers into uncertainty as they think this additional production could not be consumed before their produce is rotten," it said.

It is being expected that the campaign will create the right motion for more and immediate consumption of potato by all people of the country, thus saving the farmers from the presumed disaster.