The central theme of the event was : “To ensure the right to food, climate justice, and sovereign agriculture, unjust tax systems, debt-driven policies, and corporate capture must be stopped.”

The event was chaired by Comrade Badrul Alam, President of Bangladesh Krishok Federation, and conducted by Zayed Iqbal Khan, General Secretary.

Speakers included D^r. MA Sobhan, Advisor, UBINIG and Jahangir Alam Joni, Director, UBINIG, Abul Hossain, President of the National Hawkers Federation ; Abdul Awal, Executive Director of Noakhali Rural Development Society ; Amanur Rahman, Central Leader of the Democratic Budget Movement ; Iqbal Faruk of Waterkeepers Bangladesh ; A.A.M. Fayez Hossain, General Secretary of Bangladesh Workers Federation ; Shamim Ara, President of Bangladesh National Workers Federation ; Sultan Ahmed Bishwas, Convener of Progressive Peasants’ Struggle Council ; Lovely Yasmin, President of the Readymade Garments Workers Federation ; Nahidul Hasan Nayon, General Secretary of Sammilito Sramik Federation ; Al-Amin, General Secretary of Motherland Garments Workers Federation ; Shajahan Sarkar, Joint General Secretary of Bangladesh National Labour Federation ; Smita Raoman, Executive Director of Global Law Thinkers Society ; Mehnaz Mala, President of Cosmos ; Sunu Rani Das, leader of Dalit Nari Unnayan Sangstha ; Al-Emran of CPRD ; and Asha Mani, leader of Bangladesh Krishani Sabha, among others.

In his presidential address, Comrade Badrul Alam said : “Today’s so-called World Food Day actually reflects the grim reality of World Food-less Day. In Bangladesh, farmers are producers but deprived of their right to food. The government and international financial institutions together are driving agriculture, energy, and food policies in favor of corporate profit. Recently, under the advice of the World Bank and IMF, the government has moved to remove subsidies from oil, gas, and electricity in order to pay back foreign loans. This will increase the cost of living for workers, peasants, and poor people even more.

The national budget is not designed in favor of farmers or marginalized communities—it serves multinational corporations. We declare clearly : these unjust, debt-dependent, and corporate-driven development policies must end. People’s sovereign control over food production, markets, and land must be established.

Tax policy must be just—wealthy elites and multinationals must pay their due share, while unjust burdens should not fall on workers and peasants. Climate justice must also be ensured so that small farmers are not victims of climate change.

Our goal is an agroecological farming system that protects the environment—where local seeds, organic fertilizers, and sustainable cultivation replace chemicals and poisons. Food must be recognized not as a commodity, but as a basic human right.”

Joining the event online, Lidy Nacpil, Coordinator of the Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development (APMDD), said :“The IMF and the World Bank remain key instruments of the G7—the world’s richest countries—in deepening both the climate and debt crises. It is high time these institutions stop peddling loans as solutions to crises such as the climate emergency, which has been caused by rich nations. Their neoliberal conditionalities—privatization and trade liberalization—violate people’s rights and worsen the climate crisis, while multinational corporations continue to profit immensely.”

Jahangir Alam Jony, Director of UBINIG, and agricultural researcher M.A. Sobhan, emphasized seed and agricultural sovereignty :

“Seeds have now become the property of multinational corporations. Farmers are forced to buy seeds every season, losing both economic and social independence. Our demand is to return seed rights to the farmers. They must be free to use local, traditional, and sustainable seed systems. Environmentally sound, non-GMO, and chemical-free seeds are key to ensuring food security, climate justice, and sovereign agriculture.”

Speakers stressed that the food crisis is not merely a production crisis—it is a political and economic one. Debt-driven policies of the World Bank and IMF, unfair taxation, and climate-destructive development models are the root causes.

They urged that food sovereignty—not food security—must be the goal, where farmers, women, and local communities decide how, for whom, and by what methods food is produced.

The gathering called upon farmers, workers, and women to unite in a collective struggle for food sovereignty, ecological agriculture, climate justice, and a just tax system.

Zayed Iqbal Khan
General Secretary, Bangladesh Krishok Federation