CHT Affairs Adviser Supradip Chakma inaugurated a five-day hilly fruit fair at Chittagong Hill Tracts complex at Baily road in Dhaka today. Photo: BSS

DHAKA, July 2, 2025 (BSS) - Chitttagong Hill Tracts (CHT) Affairs Adviser Supradip Chakma has said a hub of hilly fruits will be made in the capital to make the fruits available for city people.

“We want to make a fruit hub in the capital so that people of the capital get the taste of the hill fruits directly”, he said while inaugurating a five-day hilly fruit fair at Chittagong Hill Tracts complex at Baily road here.
The adviser said, “Hilly fruits are not only delicious, those fruits are symbol of our future organic food.” 

He said, this year’s Hill Fruit Festival is not only a display but also a combination of smell of the soil of hill, labour of women and natural richness of the hill areas.

Supradip Chakma said the hilly fruit fair has been organized this year with the treasures of organic fruits as the city people remain healthy amid their mechanized life.

The fair has been organized with the support of the Ministry of Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs and three Hill District Councils of Chittagong Hill Tracts.

The adviser said hilly women are playing significant role in cultivating organic fruits in the CHT. The ministry is providing various incentives and assistance in this purpose.
Research by the agricultural department made it possible to produce fruits twice in a year in the hill areas and it is a revolutionary progress for the country, the adviser said.

Secretary of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs Ministry M Abdul Khaleq chaired the function while senior secretary M A Akmal Hossain, Task Force Chairman Sudatta Chakma, Rangamati Hill District Council Chairman Kajol Talukder, Bandarban Hill District Council Chairman Professor Thanjama Lusai, and Khagrachari Hill District Council Chairman Jiruna Tripura joined the fair, among others.

The adviser said fruits are preserved with chemicals across the country while in the hills fruits are conserved naturally. That’s why hilly fruits are not only healthy for the human but also environmental friendly.

This year’s festival features a bounty of organically grown fruits cultivated by hill women, including pesticide-free varieties including  the hefty 2.5 kg ‘Brunei King’ mango, Chiang Mai mangoes, rambutan, passion fruit, exotic papayas, authentic hill pineapples, jackfruit, mangoes, and bananas.

A total of 30 stalls, including those from the three hill districts and Dhaka, are participating in the festival which will remain open from 9 am to 8 pm every day from July 2 to 5.