The three-day national fruit exhibition-2013 ended on Tuesday
with thin turnout of visitors and customers.
The Department of Agriculture Extension organised the exhibition on the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council premises in the capital.On the concluding day, a few schoolchildren were visiting the stalls selling local fruits and fruit products including mango, jackfruits, banana, guava, pineapple, litchi, papaya and black berry.
But no stall of the Standards and Testing Institution was set up at the fair to check whether the fruits at the exhibition were treated with chemicals.
Some mangoes with shrunken skin were on display at some of the stalls.
M/s Mousumi Nursery showcased Chini Misri mango and the skin of most of the mangoes was shrunken but the proprietor Rakib Hasan could not give any reason for that.
The BARC officials said skin of the mangoes could be shrunken if chemical was used in the mangoes, or they were harvested immature.
When asked, DAE officials said the national fair was being arranged inside BARC for the last two years as the space in front of Krishibid Foundation was not ready for holding such exhibitions.
Agriculture minister Matia Chowdhury, who inaugurated the fair and fruit tree planting fortnight last Sunday, called for creating public awareness about use of formalin, carbide and other chemicals as well as providing necessary technologies to the growers.
-With New Age input
