Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus has said Bangladesh is a country with little land, half the size of Italy, yet it feeds 173 million people while sheltering 1.3 million Rohingya refugees who fled violence in Myanmar.

He was speaking as keynote speaker at a gathering of the World Food Forum in Rome, Italy, at 6pm local time on Monday (13 October).

In his written speech Dr Yunus said Bangladesh has become self-sufficient in rice, its main staple. It is one of the world's leading producers of rice, vegetables and freshwater fish. Its farmers have raised cropping intensity to 214 per cent, and the country has developed 133 climate-resilient rice varieties.

The Chief Adviser said Bangladesh has given subsidies of up to 70 per cent for farm mechanisation and built a strong food distribution system. Stunting among children has fallen, and diets have become more diverse, with soil, water and biodiversity protected. Agriculture has become greener.

He said he was pleased that the Nobel Peace Laureates Alliance for Food Security and Peace, formed by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in 2016 and of which he is a member, has now been recognised as an FAO milestone, and he hoped it would create new milestones.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.