Eating potatoes to ease burden on rice

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Saturday, 19 April 2008

With shortage of food grains in the market, prices are soaring unimaginably. Hence, changing our food habit has become necessary to reduce the burden on rice. The Army Chief, General Moeen U Ahmed, has wisely urged the people to supplement potato to their daily meals.

General Moeen was speaking with the press after inaugurating a potato feast at the Radisson Water Garden hotel in the city on Wednesday. The hotel offered as many as 140 potato items on the occasion. Potato is very tasteful, nutritious, and cheap. The country is expecting a bumper production of 80 lakh tones of potato this season. Farmers will incur heavy losses if their production remains unsold in the market. It will also discourage them to cultivate potato in the next season. For all these reasons, we must consume as much potato as possible. The most important point here is that we must reduce our dependence on rice, the staple food.

Consumption of more potato and fruits can make that possible. In many other countries in the world, potatoes are the staple food. The members of our armed forces have already begun to consume more potatoes. The potato feast in the city may encourage rich people to eat more potatoes. But we need to encourage the poor to follow the suit. For that the government may sponsor potato feasts at rural areas. Cold storages should be built in the potato cultivation areas.

This will facilitate potato preservation and ensure encouraging prices for the farmers. The government must take pragmatic steps to change our food habit. This will be the best answer to the problem of scarcity of rice. The village people consume comparatively more rice that the urban people. The rural people must be convinced that potatoes are comparatively cheap and as good as rice. The Army Chief deserves thanks for proposing a nice solution to the food crisis.

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