Control poverty
Photo: Azizur Rahim peu / driknews
Poverty is mostly a question of how a country's agricultural land and natural resource systems are managed. If management of resources is based on the principles of equity, productivity and sustainability, then poverty can be beaten back quite successfully. But the way resources are managed in Bangladesh goes against these principles and poverty remains predominant. Most often, we are breaking up the wrong tree, labelling population growth and shortage of resources as principles reasons behind poverty. Bangladesh has one of the most fertile lands in the world and its arable land /population ratio is higher then China, Japan, Holland which are world leaders in agricultural productivity. Reserve forest areas of Bangladesh are about 2.9 millions hectares (although much of it without tree covers). Bangladesh is also well endowed with natural gas and coal. Although not lavishly endowed with natural resources, our endowment cannot be considered meagre. If we can manage our resources very well, poverty alleviation will become an attainable goal.
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