Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus said on Tuesday that credit is a human right. Because, it is related to people’s livelihood.
According to a message received in Dhaka on Tuesday, the Chief Adviser said this while speaking at a side event of COP29 in the capital of Azerbaijan, Baku.
It is said in the message, Dr. Yunus said, ‘You cannot establish the right to livelihood without ensuring the right to credit.’
Bangladesh and the Netherlands jointly organized a program titled ‘A Global Conversation: Access to Finance for Small Scale Farmers’ at the Bangladesh Pavilion of the conference.
Additional Foreign Secretary Riaz Hamidullah presided over the event. Dutch Prince Jamie Bernardo of Bourbon-Parma, Netherlands’ climate ambassador, was also present.
The Dutch prince highlighted how loans, insurance, investment, research and finance have boosted agricultural production, stressing the need for this
support now for millions of farmers around the world.
Speaking at the event, Yvonne Pinto, Director General of the International Rice Research Institute, said that global rice production has increased since farmers received loans.
Jorim Schraven, one of the directors of the Dutch entrepreneurial development bank FMW, welcomed Professor Yunus for giving moral support to the right to credit, saying it is related to people’s right to know.
Inter Press Service (IPS) Senior Vice President Farhana Haque Rahman and IPS Executive Director Noram said that currently 550 million small farming families are providing food for two billion people around the world.
Dr. Yunus said, if the farmer is given the opportunity to get a loan, he can become an entrepreneur. Every business needs money and investment.
Professor Yunus, who is recognized as the pioneer of microfinance worldwide, said that farmers not only grow crops, but also sell them in the market. If he is given credit, he can buy crops from other farmers and sell them to improve his livelihood.
The chief adviser said that the countries of the world should follow the model of Grameen Bank to revamp the banking system so that credit is easily available to the farmers. A significant number of these farmers are women.
Noting that ‘every country should have a social business banking law’, he praised, adding that at least 110 universities around the world currently teach social business as a course.
