Dhaka, April 3 (IANS) Bangladesh Army chief, General Moin U. Ahmed, has advised his countrymen to “make a habit” of eating potato with rice to fight food shortage, media reports said Thursday. There has been a bumper harvest of potato, while rice is being imported from India to tide over the serious shortages caused by last November’s cyclone. The New Age newspaper reported that the price of rice has gone up by Taka two to three (3-4 US cents) in the last two days.

There has been panic buying by consumers at shops specially set up by the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR), the border security force assigned the additional task of procuring and distributing rice.

With the armed forces widely perceived as backing the present caretaker government of Chief Advisor Fakhruddin Ahmed, the Army chief has been taking pro-active measures and making suggestions in his public statements to help the government tide over domestic problems.

His advice came while addressing an army-supervised farmers’ market at Bogra in northern Bangladesh, United News of Bangladesh (UNB) news agency reported.

“Eating potato with rice will reduce its (rice) demand alongside fulfilling nutrition requirement. So, a habit of eating potato should be developed,” he said.

With rice as the staple diet, the price rise has added to the inflation. But the government says it will tide over inflation once the new crop enters the food grain market next month.