Guavas over grapes please
Saturday, 12 March 2011
Ameer Hamza
One need not be dismissive about foreign grapes and pears as having 'nothing,' as one learned member of the Nutrition and Food Science Institute of The University Of Dhaka was quoted as saying in the course of his singing the praises of home-grown fruits! We don't have to rubbish foreign fruits, or vice versa, in order to make a laudable point - that our native fruits are good enough sources of vitamins, minerals and carbohydrate-energy. But it does make no sense that Bangladesh should spend so much foreign exchange buying fruits from abroad. The import bill on account of foreign fruits in the 2009-10 period, for example, stood at Tk 8.50 billion (850 crore), according to commerce ministry sources! A two-year FAO-funded research project of the above institute worked on 75 varieties of native food crops - fruits, roots, vegetables and grains - and found them to be no less, if not more, nutritious than imported ones. This tropical region has a lot more potential to increase and improve the production of its own rich varieties - if only we would put our mind to it. The country's demand for fruits in general is estimated to be about thirty hundred thousand metric tonnes, but only a little over half of that is produced locally. Although some farmers are getting help from a number of non-government projects in their efforts to grow fruits, the efforts are yet to be coordinated for better results. A similar component to encourage papaya and guava in and around the homestead, under the two-decade long National Nutrition Project, has for some reason been discontinued. This ought to be revived, adding other fruits and vegetables for both family consumption and cash. It does make both sound economic and ecological sense to encourage policymakers and traders - as well as the xenophilic public - to start valuing Bangladesh's native produce and do everything possible to grow more of them and ensure that these are accessible to and affordable for the malnourished millions. Regular intake of the vitamin and mineral-rich fresh fruits and vegetables can make a great deal of difference with respect to combating many micro-nutrient deficiencies. The Bangladesh diet has been dwindling over the years, the proportion of protein-energy, both animal and vegetable proteins, getting smaller and smaller as fish and lentils go beyond the reach of the majority. Now, except for those who grow their own fruits and vegetables, these too are becoming unaffordable, as production costs increase and big farmers chase greenbacks rather than the domestic consumer. This is why Bangladesh's majority on average consume 65 to 70 per cent of rice instead of the FAO- recommended 60 per cent, to meet the minimum calorie needs. The much-needed combination in a balanced meal is made up of simple carbohydrates (rice or wheat), complex carbohydrates (leafy green vegetables, fruits and roots) and proteins and fats (fish, meat, eggs, milk, lentils, nuts). This balanced diet is yet to be guaranteed for Bangladesh's overwhelming majority. It should have been one of the topmost priorities of successive governments, but it has never been, as evident in the lack of a really pro-people food policy, despite claims to the contrary. Consider this: billions are spent on importing unnecessary items in the name of food and beverage; popular fish and vegetables are allowed to fly away to fill the pockets of the few with greenbacks while ordinary people have to 'eat too much rice' only!
One need not be dismissive about foreign grapes and pears as having 'nothing,' as one learned member of the Nutrition and Food Science Institute of The University Of Dhaka was quoted as saying in the course of his singing the praises of home-grown fruits! We don't have to rubbish foreign fruits, or vice versa, in order to make a laudable point - that our native fruits are good enough sources of vitamins, minerals and carbohydrate-energy. But it does make no sense that Bangladesh should spend so much foreign exchange buying fruits from abroad. The import bill on account of foreign fruits in the 2009-10 period, for example, stood at Tk 8.50 billion (850 crore), according to commerce ministry sources! A two-year FAO-funded research project of the above institute worked on 75 varieties of native food crops - fruits, roots, vegetables and grains - and found them to be no less, if not more, nutritious than imported ones. This tropical region has a lot more potential to increase and improve the production of its own rich varieties - if only we would put our mind to it. The country's demand for fruits in general is estimated to be about thirty hundred thousand metric tonnes, but only a little over half of that is produced locally. Although some farmers are getting help from a number of non-government projects in their efforts to grow fruits, the efforts are yet to be coordinated for better results. A similar component to encourage papaya and guava in and around the homestead, under the two-decade long National Nutrition Project, has for some reason been discontinued. This ought to be revived, adding other fruits and vegetables for both family consumption and cash. It does make both sound economic and ecological sense to encourage policymakers and traders - as well as the xenophilic public - to start valuing Bangladesh's native produce and do everything possible to grow more of them and ensure that these are accessible to and affordable for the malnourished millions. Regular intake of the vitamin and mineral-rich fresh fruits and vegetables can make a great deal of difference with respect to combating many micro-nutrient deficiencies. The Bangladesh diet has been dwindling over the years, the proportion of protein-energy, both animal and vegetable proteins, getting smaller and smaller as fish and lentils go beyond the reach of the majority. Now, except for those who grow their own fruits and vegetables, these too are becoming unaffordable, as production costs increase and big farmers chase greenbacks rather than the domestic consumer. This is why Bangladesh's majority on average consume 65 to 70 per cent of rice instead of the FAO- recommended 60 per cent, to meet the minimum calorie needs. The much-needed combination in a balanced meal is made up of simple carbohydrates (rice or wheat), complex carbohydrates (leafy green vegetables, fruits and roots) and proteins and fats (fish, meat, eggs, milk, lentils, nuts). This balanced diet is yet to be guaranteed for Bangladesh's overwhelming majority. It should have been one of the topmost priorities of successive governments, but it has never been, as evident in the lack of a really pro-people food policy, despite claims to the contrary. Consider this: billions are spent on importing unnecessary items in the name of food and beverage; popular fish and vegetables are allowed to fly away to fill the pockets of the few with greenbacks while ordinary people have to 'eat too much rice' only!