President urges people to eat more fruits

Wednesday, 16 July 2014 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Waruni Paranagamage “It is better to keep fruits for our children’s consumption than export them for another country use,” stated President Mahinda Rajapaksa, while inaugurating the fruit promotion week and fruit festival at Fruit Crops Research and Development Centre (FCRDC) in Horana. The President said that although Sri Lanka’s fresh fruits have a good demand overseas, promoting them domestically, especially among children, would help create healthy future generations. “Now we must understand the value of our own products. We must guide the younger generation to admire and consume national products. We have our own land and we have our own fruit production. Then why should we depend on import fruits? Why can’t we consume fruits grown in this country?” the President questioned.

The aim of the festival is to promote the consumption of fruits and higher cultivation of fruits in the country. The recommended daily intake of fruits is 200 grams but the average Sri Lankan consumes far less per day. The festival is even titled ‘200 grams’ in order to create awareness and promote the increased consumption of fruit. The organizers of the event told the Daily FT that the first day of the event was highly successful, with many of fruit plants completely sold out. The 12 projects scheduled to be introduced at the festival were successfully launched by the President and the Minister of Economic Development Basil Rajapaksa. The organisers also commented that the demand for durian and demand for fresh fruit cordials increased during the first day of the festival.

Sri Lanka is among the top fruit producing countries in Asia, growing a wide variety of fruits, and boasts over 200 varieties that are suitable for consumption including nutritious fruits such mango, jackfruit, papaw, pineapple, banana, avocado, orange and gauva. Fruits such as wood apple, bel fruit, uguressa, katu anoda, gaduguda, passion fruit and pomegranate have the ability to control cancers and ensure good health. Today, Sri Lanka’s indigenous fruits are specially used for medicinal purposes and have a good demand from foreign countries. According to Ministry reports, fruit cultivation in Sri Lanka has spread over 150,000 hectares in the country but 90% comprises home gardening. Due to poor planning, the contribution to national development by fruit production is still meagre. Guidance on grafting and budding methods, home gardening methods, producing harvests in the off season, plant rehabilitation methods, harvesting and storage methods, and fruit selling are all being provided via training programs, seminars, and the self-employment unit at the exhibition. The event attracted growers from the private sector, key players in the fruit industry, financial institutes and even participants from the beauty culture industry. The Mahaweli Authority, Ministry of Economic Development, Post Harvest Technology Institute and several financial institutes were also present at the festival. The President paid a visit to the fruit garden where he tasted several fresh fruits. He also enjoyed the ‘energy drink’ (kola kanda) being served by the Royal College students. The festival will be open to the public until 21 July from 8.30 a.m. to 6 p.m.