To help ensure food security and improve the incomes of more than 1,23,000 smallholder farmers, IFC is providing up to $35 million to Tanveer Food Limited (TFL), part of the Meghna Group of Industries (MGI), to promote a resilient rice market in Bangladesh.

The investment marks IFC’s first under its Global Food Security Platform (GFSP), a $6 billion global financing facility set up to counter the global food crisis by restoring and improving production to build the foundation for a more resilient global food system.

 “This investment will allow us to expand the processing and distribution of rice products in northern Bangladesh, a region that has traditionally been comprised of large number of smallholder farmers growing rice to earn their livelihoods,” said Tahmina Binthe Mostafa, Director of MGI.

“In a country like Bangladesh, food security means rice security,” said Riccardo Puliti, IFC’s Regional Vice President for Asia and the Pacific. “Through building a state-of-the-art rice milling factory this project will deliver hundreds of jobs and put more money into the pockets of thousands of the country’s smallholder farmers.”

The investment will further increase smallholder rice farmers’ access to the market, introduce spot payments, shorten storage period of rice, reducing waste and improve the quality of rice paddy.

IFC will also help the company strengthen its environmental and social standards, aligning its operations with industry best practices including a farmer’s training program.