BAKU: Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus on Tuesday emphasized that credit is a fundamental human right as it directly influences people’s livelihood. “You cannot establish the right of livelihood without ensuring the right to credit,” he remarked during a sideline event at the COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan’s capital, as per a message received in Dhaka.
According to Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, Bangladesh and the Netherlands co-hosted the event titled A Global Conversation: Access to Finance for Small Scale Farmers at the Bangladesh Pavilion of the conference. The session was moderated by Additional Foreign Secretary Riaz Hamidullah and saw the presence of Dutch Prince Jaime Bernardo of Bourbon-Parma, who is also the climate envoy of the Netherlands. The Dutch prince underscored the role of credit, insurance, investment, research, and finance in enhancing agricultural productivity, insisting on the necessity of this support for millions of farmers worldwide.
Yvonne Pinto, Director General of the Internation
al Rice Research Institute, noted that global rice production has surged since farmers gained access to credit. Jorim Schraven, a director at the Dutch entrepreneurial development bank FMO, praised Prof Yunus for his moral support concerning debt rights, linking it to people’s right to knowledge. Farhana Haque Rahman, Senior Vice President of Inter Press Service and Executive Director of IPS Noram, highlighted that 550 million small household farmers currently feed two billion people globally.
Prof Yunus advocated that farmers could become entrepreneurs if granted access to credit. “Every business needs money and investment,” he stated, explaining that farmers not only cultivate crops but also sell them in markets. He suggested that with credit access, farmers could purchase crops from others and sell them to enhance their livelihoods. Prof Yunus, globally recognized as a microcredit pioneer, urged countries to redesign banking systems based on the Grameen Bank model to make credit accessible to farmers, man
y of whom are women.
“Every country should have a social business banking law,” Prof Yunus proposed, noting that social business is now being taught as a course in at least 110 universities worldwide.