Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday urged development partners to invest in sustainable rural economies to ensure resilience to agricultural crisis, as inclusive and sustainable rural transformation holds the key to eradicating poverty and hunger.
“The development partners have to be a little more generous in order to eliminate poverty and hunger. The world appears to be ready for it now. I would like to urge you to invest in sustainable rural economies,” she said while delivering her keynote speech at the 41st session of the IFAD Governing Council held at the headquarters of International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) in Rome, Italy.
With IFAD President Gilbert Foussoun Houngbo in the chair, the theme of the session was “From fragility to long-term resilience: Investing in sustainable rural economics.”
The Bangladesh premier said: “We believe that in order to ensure resilience, investment in the rural economy is a key factor. This, we believe, cannot be achieved without global partnership and cooperation.”
Noting that sustainability cannot be achieved without creating long-term resilience, she said: “A comprehensive sustainable rural economy requires investment in the development of the rural social fabric and climate resilience.”
Focusing on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030, Hasina said inclusive and sustainable rural transformation was the key to reaching the goals of poverty elimination, hunger elimination, and leaving no one behind.
Mentioning that Bangladesh is the most densely populated country in the world, she said it was poised to achieve the SDG goals well ahead of 2030, and poverty would likely be eradicated in Bangladesh altogether by 2024.
However, Bangladesh faces other formidable challenges as it is likely to lose 40% of its cultivable land by 2080 if sea levels rise 65 centimetres only, she said.
“Changes in crop production due to the impact of climate change will increase the number of people living in poverty. Therefore, significant resources must be tapped in order to ensure better adapted and resilient agricultural practices,” she added.
Noting that IFAD's model of mutual help and partnership is very different from that of other UN agencies and organizations, the Bangladesh prime minister said: "We sincerely believe that this ideal model will work in the promising future that is before mankind now."
Sheikh Hasina said according to a World Economic Forum report, the world population is projected to surpass nine billion by 2050 and there will be a huge strain on declining global arable land, forests and water.
She said the rise in sea level would heavily reduce arable land in many countries, and Bangladesh will be its victim again without contributing to sea level rise at all.
“Global food demand in 2050 will increase by at least 60% over 2006 levels, and food prices are likely to increase by at least 84%," she added.
Regarding how to respond to such a combination of adverse developments, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina highlighted the success story of Bangladesh.
"The natural resilience of Bangladeshi people to any crisis did not allow the build-up of a food crisis in a year of climatic vagaries and reduced food production in the country,” she said. “Bangladesh had about a decade of self-sufficiency in food, and then this year [2017], there was an unexpected shortfall due to untimely and recurrent flooding. Some adjustment in import policy immediately made food readily available to the consumers.”
She mentioned that Bangladesh has increased its food production from 11 million tons in 1971 to 39 million tons in 2017 although one-third of arable land has been lost in the meantime.
Friday, June 05, 2026
