International Journal of Ecology and Development Research

IJEDR

Vol. 1(1), pp. 002-009, March, 2016. www.premierpublishers.org. ISSN: 2167-0449

Research Article

Causes and possible solutions of seasonal food

insecurity (Monga) perceived by char dwellers in
Bangladesh
Nazirul Islam Sarker*
*Department of Agricultural Extension Education, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh, Bangladesh.
Email: nazirul2012@gmail.com, Phone: +8801816739039
The study was carried out in Guabari and Hasilkandi village of Saghata upazila and dewlabari
char and Khatamari char village of Fulcchari upazila under Gaibandha district to determine the
causes of seasonal food insecurity (Monga) of char dwellers. The study was aimed to ascertain
the probable ways for alleviating seasonal food insecurity (Monga) faced by the char dwellers in
Bangladesh. One hundred char dwellers were selected randomly of which 25 from each village.
Data were collected during January-March, 2015 through interview schedule. Among the 39
causes of seasonal food insecurity (Monga) Lack of job opportunity in Monga season especially
September to December in every year, river bank erosion in the char area, frequent flood
inundation, no agricultural work, no business activities due to excessive rainfall, dense fogs,
hailstorms, severe cold, etc are the main causes of seasonal food insecurity (Monga). Among 31
possible ways of achieving seasonal food security, Creation of year round job opportunities for
char dwellers, diversified crop cultivation practices should be introduced, a huge arable land
should be brought under cultivation by proper soil management, educational facilities etc came
out as the main ways. The study will help policy makers and NGOs to address and analyze the
issues for achieving seasonal food security of char dwellers.
Key words: Monga, food security, seasonal food insecurity, poverty, char dwellers, Bangladesh.

INTRODUCTION
Monga is a local term specially used in northern part of
Bangladesh, which means ovab or a seasonal food
crisis. Almost every year, the northwestern part of
Bangladesh mostly greater Rangpur is hit by this
seasonal famine-like situation locally called Monga and
literally termed as Mora Kartic. This situation occurs
during the Bengali months of Ashwin and Kartic (mid
September to mid November), a period between
transplantation and harvest of Aman paddy. The people
of North Bangal are mostly familiar with this problem. And
particularly Monga is the local term of northern part of
Bangladesh. The reasons of migration are many and
Monga is one such cause of migration in North Bengal.
The duration of Monga is limited to the lean season
preceding the aman harvest in the Bangla months of

Ashwin and Kartik (mid September to mid November)

although there is a second lean season before boro3 is
harvested. As this lean season is usually less severe, it
will be called little Monga. (Zug, 2006).
A Char is a strip of land or a bar which has emerged from
the river-bed following deposition and accretion of silt and
alluvium. Chars can be of two types: attached and island
chars. An island char is defined as that land which even
in the dry season, can only be reached from the mainland
crossing a main river channel. Attached chars are
accessible from the mainland without crossing a channel
during the dry season. (Sarker et al., 2007).
Farmers of five northern districts viz: Gaibandha,
Rangpur, Nilphamari, Lalmonirhat and Kurigram suffer

Causes and possible solutions of seasonal food insecurity (Monga) perceived by char dwellers in Bangladesh

Sarker MNI.

002

seasonal distress, locally known as Monga. Most people

living in these Monga -prone areas are more dependent
either on agriculture or on daily wage earning as
agriculture labourers. The percentage of agriculture
labours is much higher in these areas compared to other
parts of the country. Severe food shortage and lack of job
opportunity,
especially
during
March-May
and
September-November plague their livelihood with
starvation and hunger. Besides, these people suffer
serious hardship due to malnutrition. The cereal-based
cropping system is predominant in these areas. Most
farmers grow Aman rice on medium highlands which is
normally transplanted in late August and harvested in
early December. The agriculture labours become jobless
for a long period between end of transplanting and
beginning of harvesting (September-November). Delayed
harvesting of Aman rice delays planting and harvesting of
potato/wheat, resulting in low yield or rendering larger
areas fallow. Again, from end March onward land
remains fallow after the harvest of rabi crops until the
beginning of transplanted Aman crop. The situation again
brings another span of Monga or seasonal distress for
the agriculture labours in the areas. (Haque, 2011).
The 1996 World Food Summit defined food security as
existing when all people, at all times have sufficient, safe
and nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life.
Previous CLP studies broke down food security into three
pillars (Cordier et al, 2013):
1. Food availability: food must be available in sufficient
quantities on a consistent basis.
2. Food access: households must be able to regularly
acquire adequate amounts of food.
3. Food utilization: consumed food must have positive
nutritional impact on people.
The World Food Summit definition includes the phrase at
all times. This study relates to this part as it analyses the
impact of shocks and stresses on food security at
different times of the year. Each pillar of food security
pillars has an aspect of stability. Shocks that affect the
stability of food security include volatile food prices;
hazards; and political instability. Periods of poor food
security, however short, have long lasting impacts on
households, particularly the vulnerable such as children
and the disabled.
The Northern Region of Bangladesh is situated in the
Tista and Jamuna basin, and contains many tributaries of
these. Topography and climate make the area
ecologically vulnerable to destabilizing variations
including floods, river erosion, drought spells, and cold
waves, all of which occur more frequently and intensely
than in other regions. Amidst these compelling
conditions, the local economy shows little diversification
and is heavily dependent on agriculture which yields

only one or sometimes two annual harvests, in contrast

with three crops per year in more fertile and benign parts
of the country. In this setting, local employment is limited
from September through December in average years. As
the landless and poorest survive on agricultural wage
labor, their opportunities and ensuing incomes drop in
this period, and they become trapped in what is called
Monga, a cyclical phenomenon of poverty and hunger. In
this context of vulnerability, seasonal food insecurity
manifests itself in all three of its dimensions: availability;
access and utilization. The shocks that trigger food
insecurity are usually local natural disasters, aggravated
by the specific vulnerability that the hard-core poor
endure in economic, social, health, and governance
factors.
In particular, the poor northern regions of Bangladesh are
extremely suffering from food insecurity. These regions
are combined of the Northwest, drought prone and
Northern chars. The population of this region is closely
dependent on agriculture for their livelihood. The poverty
and food insecurity in this region is attributed to a
phenomenon called Monga. It is a seasonal food
insecurity primarily caused by an income and
employment deficit. The major areas affected by this
Monga are: Gaibandha, Lalmonirhat, Kurigram,
Nilphamari and Rangpur.
Food insecurity in the Chars shows that these areas in
northern part belong to the poorest settlement among
whole Bangladesh. Livelihood of Chars is determined by
the nature of the rivers. Frequent floods and river erosion
result in a loss of assets for the population, agricultural
activities, hamper of livestock, scarcity of water and
shortage of fodder. Employment opportunities are
decreasing. People are being displaced and their access
to work. Land rights are very complicated; consequently,
poor people are often losing their land to the powerful.
Besides agricultural day-labouring, share cropping and
share rearing for absentee landlords, alternative income
sources are even scarcer than on the mainland. Lower
literacy rate, inadequate health facilities are making them
poorer socio economically in terms of food insecurity
(Zug, 2006).
The lean season reduces the peoples access to income,
which is a shock on their livelihoods. People with low
capacities, hit by this seasonal shock, have to reduce
their nutritional intake. The seasonal shock, however, is
only the trigger of Monga . If people were not chronically
poor, they would have the capability to cope with this
shock. Monga is therefore not a problem of food
availability, but of lacking access to food.
So far no study has been conducted for char dwellers on
seasonal food insecurity or Monga.
The present study was undertaken to find out the

Causes and possible solutions of seasonal food insecurity (Monga) perceived by char dwellers in Bangladesh

Int. J. Ecol. Devel. Res.

following specific objectives:

a) To identify the causes of seasonal food insecurity
(Monga) of char dwellers and char dwellers perception
about it;
b) To ascertain the probable ways for alleviating seasonal
food insecurity (Monga); and
c) To make suggestions on the basis of the findings of
the study.

003

it quite easy to understand that human life on these

geographical settings is neither convenient nor easy.
Isolation from main land and associated attributes, lack of
infrastructure, disaster prone nature, and powerlessness
interlock the char dwellers into a downward spiral of
poverty. This state of deadlocked poverty has been seen
to be quite persistent due to the lack of adequate
institutional intervention (Chowdhury, 1988).

REVIEW OF LITERATURE
METHODOLOGY
Paul S K, et al (2013) found that with a view to cope with
the monga, various coping strategies such as selling of
labour with advance payment at cheap rate, borrowing of
money, selling of assets, looking for work in other areas,
dependency on relief, selling of field crops in advance at
cheap rate etc. were adopted by the affected households.
Shahiduzzaman et al. (2013) found that nearly half of the
landless char people were food insecure. The year of
schooling, landlessness category, annual household
income, training experience, and credit received,
extension media contact, involvement in NGO, perceived
strategies to cope with food insecurity and perception of
organizational food insecurity mitigation initiatives of
Landless char peoples had significant positive
relationship with their household food security condition.
Sarker et al. (2012) found that Monga stricken people in
terms of less consumption were higher in Char and rural
areas compared to urban area. Lack of cultivable land,
natural calamities, non-availability of working facilities at
non-agricultural sector, lack of working facilities at
agricultural sector due to natural calamities and lack of
credit availability and high interest rate were opined by
the researcher as their causes of Monga. On the other
hand, beef fattening, petty business, plant nursery and
poultry farming were addressed as the mitigating
activities of Monga undertaken by NGOs. Old-age
allowance, Hundred-day job scheme and Vulnerable
Group Development (VGD) programme were observed
as Monga mitigating activities undertaken by GOs in the
study area.
Lowest productivity causes from unequal land distribution
and industrialization which is far below the national
average. Mainly industries are related to the processing
of tobacco that is off-farm income for the unskilled rural
poor. The rice and saw mills, brick-field works earth
works and rickshaw pulling are the alternative
employment opportunities besides agriculture labour
here. A major reason for the low employment
opportunities is the lack of agricultural diversification
which is largely based on paddy (Zug, 2006).
The bio-physical condition and location of the chars make

Study area
Gaibandha district consists of seven upzilas, Saghata
and Fulcchari upazila was purposively selected for this
study. Then random selection is done for selecting two
villages from each upazila. The study was conducted in
Guabari and Hasilkandi village of Saghata upazila and
dewlabari char and Khatamari char village of Fulcchari
upazila under Gaibandha district. The study areas were
two island chars in different upazilas embedded on
Jamuna river. The physical, social and cultural heritages
of the people of this area similar in many cases with other
char areas of the country.
Measurement of Socio-Demographic Characteristics:
1. Age
Age of a respondent was measured on the basis of time
from her birth to the time of interview. A score of one (1)
was assigned for each year of her age.
2. Education
The education was measured on the basis of completed
years of schooling by a respondent in educational
institutions. A score of one (1) was given for each
completed year of schooling. If a respondent does not
know reading and writing her score was zero. A score of
0.5 was given to a respondent who only could sign her
name.
3. Family Size
Family size of a respondent was measured on the basis
of the actual number of members in her family. The family
members included him, wife, and children together with
dependent members who jointly lived and ate together up
to the time of interview. The actual number of members
was considered as the family size score of a respondent.
For example, if a respondent had four members in her
family, her family size score was given as 4.
4. Fatalism
Fatalism score was computed by using eight items Likert
scale. Among eight statements, four were positive and
four were negative to fatalism. The respondents indicated

Causes and possible solutions of seasonal food insecurity (Monga) perceived by char dwellers in Bangladesh

Sarker MNI.

004

for each statements of the scale whether they strongly

agreed, agreed, undecided, disagreed and strongly
disagreed. Score assigned to these responses for
positive statements were 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 respectively.
For negative statements the scoring system was
reversed. Fatalism score of a respondent was determined
by summing the scores for responses to all the eight
items in the scale. Fatalism scores of the respondents
could range from 8 to 40, where 8 score indicating low
fatalism and 40 score indicating high fatalism.
5. Agricultural Knowledge
Agricultural knowledge of the respondents was measured
by asking 18 questions related to agriculture. A score of 2
was assigned to each question and total of 36 scores
was assigned to all questions. A full score was given for
each correct answer. However, partial score was given to
partial correct answer of a certain question and 0 was
assigned for wrong answer. The scores was obtained by
a respondent could range from 0 to 36, where 0
indicating no agricultural knowledge and 36 indicating
very high agricultural knowledge.

Data Collection
The sample size was 100 of which 25 from each village
namely Guabari and Hasilkandi village of Saghata
upazila and dewlabari char and Khatamari char village of
Fulcchari upazila under Gaibandha district. The sample
size was determined by the estimated proportion formula
(Cochran, 1977). The interview was conducted by asking
the respective household head or representative. Each
respondent was asked for citing five causes of seasonal
food insecurity or Monga and five possible ways for
alleviating seasonal food insecurity or Monga. The
households are temporarily or permanently residing in the
char areas. An interview schedule was carefully prepared
keeping objectives in mind. Simple and direct questions
and different scales were used to obtain information. The
information supplied by the respondents was recorded
directly on the interview schedule. The information was
duly checked in order to minimize errors if any. The
respondents were interviewed at their leisure time to get
maximum information. After collecting data, the
researcher made careful scrutiny in all the schedules.
The data were collected during January to March, 2015.
All the collected data were checked and cross checked
before transferred into the master sheets. The data were
coded, compiled, tabulated and analyzed to accomplish
the specific objectives of the study. Qualitative data were
converted into quantitative form by means of suitable
scoring technique whenever applicable. Secondary data
have been accumulated from different published journals
and books.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Status of the Socio-Demographic Characteristics of
the Char Dwellers:
1. Age
The age is one of the most important factors for
determining the personality makeup of the char dwellers
which may play a vital role in their poverty alleviation.
Age of the char dwellers ranged from 20 to 62 years with
an average of 38.36 years and a standard deviation of
11.53. On the basis of their age, the char dwellers were
classified into three categories as shown in Table 1. The
highest proportion (45 percent) of the char dwellers were
middle aged compared to 39 percent of the being young
aged and 16 percent old. A close look into the data
indicates that decision-making regarding food security
activities were mostly in the hands of middle and young
aged women.
2. Education
The education of an individual helps to make decision,
solve farming problems and make favorable attitude
towards income generating activities. So, literate people
can play a vital role to ensure food security. The level of
education of the char dwellers ranged from 0 to 8 years
of schooling having an average of 1.27 and a standard
deviation of 1.68. Based on their educational qualification
scores, the respondents were classified into four
categories as shown in Table 1. The highest proportion
(61 percent) of the respondents had very low education
i.e. they could only sign their name, while 23 percent had
low education i.e. they were primary level, 14 percent of
the respondents were illiterate and 2 percent had medium
education i.e. they were secondary level. During data
collection, it was observed that large proportion of the
char dwellers could get at sign due to the contribution of
Total Literacy Movement (TLM) programme. Education is
necessary for proper understanding of the information
and development skills for ensuring food security in the
char area
3. Family size
Family is a social unit or grouping, the members of which
are united by bond or kinship. The importance of the
family in determining the character and structure of the
society is tremendous. Family background directly or
indirectly influences a persons behaviour, social position
and outlook of life. It could be a good source of ensuring
seasonal food security. The number of family members of
the respondent ranged from 1 to 13 with an average 5.03.
Based on the family size, the respondents were classified
into three categories as shown in Table 1.
Data presented in the Table 1 show that the highest
proportion (43 percent) of the respondents fell under

Causes and possible solutions of seasonal food insecurity (Monga) perceived by char dwellers in Bangladesh

Int. J. Ecol. Devel. Res.

005

Table 1. Salient features of the socio-demographic characteristics of the char dwellers.

Selected
characteristic
s

Measuring
unit

1. Age

Year

2. Education

Ranges

Categories

Possible
score
-

Observed
score
20-62

Year of
schooling

0-8

3. Family size

Number

1-13

4. Fatalism

Rated
score

0-40

8-39

5. Agricultural
knowledge

Score

0-36

8-29

Respondents

Mean

Std.
deviation

No.

Percent

Young (<35 years)

Middle aged (3550)
Old (>50)
None (0)
Very low (0.5)
Low (1-5)
Medium (6-10)

39
45
16

39
45
16

38.36

11.53

14
61
23
2

14
61
23
2

1.27

1.68

Small family (up to

4)
Medium family (56)
Large family (>6)
Low fatalism (Up to
12)
Medium
fatalism
(1325)
High fatalism (> 25)
Low (up to 10)
Medium (11-20)
High (>20)

40
43
17

40
43
17

5.03

1.99

41
38
21

41
38
21

17.22

8.61

12
69
19

12
69
19

15.78

5.01

Source: Field survey, 2015

medium family category compared to 40 percent having

small family and remaining 17 percent with large family.
Such finding is logical in a rural area because various
GOs and NGOs have been discouraging for large family
size.
4. Fatalism
Fatalism is a mental condition which leads an individual
to believe in his fate. Due to fatalistic attitude the farmers
do not adopt innovation. They think that their
socioeconomic betterment would happen according to
the will of Almighty Allah as they are more or less
religious in nature. Ones fatalism may prevent him to
participate in various income generating activities and as
a result, he may fall in seasonal food insecurity. Fatalism
score of the respondents ranged from 8 to 39 against a
possible range of 0 to 40, with the average was 17.22
and a standard deviation of 8.61. On the basis of the
fatalism score the respondents were classified into three
categories as shown in Table 1.
Data presented in the Table 1 show that the highest
proportion (41 percent) of the respondents had low
fatalism category compared to 38 percent having medium
fatalism and remaining 21 percent with high fatalism. It is
observed during data collection that different GOs and
NGOs are designed various programmes for increasing
the awareness of the char dwellers and decreasing their

fatalistic behavior related to birth rate, crop production

etc.
5. Agricultural Knowledge
Agricultural knowledge of the char dwellers is the
foundation of farming activities. Knowledge of a man
inspires him to take correct and proper decision. Since,
most of the char dwellers depend on agriculture, so
agricultural knowledge is very important to ensure
seasonal food security. Agricultural knowledge score of
the respondents ranged from 8 to 29 against a possible
range of 0 to 36, with the average was 15.78 and a
standard deviation of 5.01. On the basis of the score, the
respondents were classified into three categories as
shown in Table 1. Data presented in the Table 1 show
that the highest proportion (69 percent) of the
respondents were medium agricultural knowledge while
19 percent high agricultural knowledge and remaining 19
percent having low agricultural knowledge.
Causes of Seasonal Food Insecurity (Monga)
The respondents were asked to mention the causes of
seasonal food insecurity or Monga they faced, each of
the respondents cited five causes. They have mentioned
thirty nine causes of seasonal food insecurity or Monga
which have been presented in table 2.
Lack of job opportunity in Monga season especially
September to December in every year was the top most

Causes and possible solutions of seasonal food insecurity (Monga) perceived by char dwellers in Bangladesh

Sarker MNI.

006

Table 2. The Causes of Seasonal Food Insecurity or Monga of Char Dwellers as Perceived by them.

Sl. No.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39

Number
citation
Lack of job opportunity in Monga season specially September to 49
December in every year.
River bank erosion in the char area.
41
No agricultural work, no business activities due to excessive rainfall, 32
dense fogs, hailstorms, severe cold, etc.
Inadequate land for farming due to sandy soil.
21
Frequent flood inundation
21
Lack of money or capital or necessary fund
19
Inadequate training facilities
19
Lack of knowledge of different aspects of farming enterprises
18
Inadequate educational facilities
17
Encroachment of char land by terrorist.
16
Diseases of cattle, goats and sheep
16
High rate of interest on borrowing invested by the vested group.
16
Insufficient credit facilities.
15
Lack of storage or processing facilities
13
Lack of contact with communication media
13
Social and religious restriction.
13
Lack of cooperative activities.
12
No industrial establishment to get opportunity for alternative sources of 12
income nor even SMEs to get wage based works
No scope of self-employment due to financial hardship
12
Over population
12
Dowry system
11
Drought causes food crisis
11
Poor communication facilities
10
Diseases and insects attack on crops
9
Lack of employment opportunity
9
Laziness of char dwellers
8
Frequent migration of char dwellers
8
8
Diseases of poultry birds
Marriage of under aged people
8
Bereft from actual wages
7
Lack of capital for cultivation of crops and business
6
No purchasing capacity to buy food and medicine
5
Frequent cyclone
4
Migration to other districts for earning income. This is an idea that nobody 3
likes in the community.
Lack of self awareness.
2
Lack of willingness of service providing agencies.
1
Running of cases
1
Inheritance of poverty
1
Lack of knowledge about land law
1
Causes of seasonal food insecurity or Monga

of

Rank
1
2
3
4
4
6
6
8
9
10
10
10
13
14
14
14
17
17
17
17
21
21
23
24
24
26
26
26
26
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
36
36
36

Source: Field survey, 2015

cause of seasonal food insecurity or Monga as cited by

49 respondents in this study.
Possible Solutions for Alleviating Seasonal Food
Insecurity or Monga

of alleviating seasonal food insecurity or Monga they

faced, each of the respondents cited five ways. They
have mentioned thirty one ways of alleviating seasonal
food insecurity or Monga which have been presented in
table 3.

The respondents were asked to mention the possible ways

Creation of year round job opportunities for char dwellers

Causes and possible solutions of seasonal food insecurity (Monga) perceived by char dwellers in Bangladesh

Int. J. Ecol. Devel. Res.

007

Table 3. The Possible Ways for Alleviating Seasonal Food Insecurity or Monga of Char Dwellers as Perceived by
them.

Number
citation
Creation of year round job opportunities for char dwellers.
53
Control of river bank erosion by constructing dam.
41
Diversified crop cultivation practices should be introduced.
37
A huge arable land should be brought under cultivation by proper 29
soil management.
A proper coping strategy should be introduced by the Government 21
and NGOs for survival of char dwellers at flood situation.
Educational facilities should be ensured by the Government.
20
Char dwellers should be given the opportunity to acquire loans at 19
low interest rate.
Increasing cultivable land by proper management.
18
Training facilities should be ensured by the Government and NGOs 17
especially for income generating activities.
Communication and transport facilities should be increased.
17
Control of diseases of cattle, goats and sheep.
16
Providing knowledge of different aspects of farming enterprises 15
through frequent training arrangement by GOs and NGOs.
Control of land encroachment by enforcing law.
15
Control of high rate of interest on local borrowing money from 14
Mohajon (money lender) by law enforcing agency.
Capital for cultivation of crops and business should be ensured.
14
Sufficient credit facilities should be ensured for char dwellers by 13
GOs and NGOs.
Self awareness among char dwellers should be increased.
13
Storage or processing facilities should be developed in char areas. 12
Control of diseases of poultry birds.
12
Population growth control.
12
Protect dowry system.
11
Control of diseases and insect attack of crops
11
Embankment should be constructed to protect flood
10
Control of under aged marriage
10
Awareness about land law among char dwellers should be created. 9
Flood rehabilitation shelter should be constructed.
9
Need service providing agencies
9
Regular migration should be protested.
8
Infrastructure in char areas should be developed by GOs and 7
NGOs.
Service providing agencies should be worked willingly for char 6
dwellers.
Community and religious leaders should be shared knowledge 2
about superstition and other farming and off-farm activities.

Sl. No. Possible ways for achieving seasonal food security

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31

of

Rank
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
9
11
12
12
14
14
16
16
18
18
18
21
21
23
23
25
25
25
28
29
30
31

Source: Field survey, 2015

is the top most ways of alleviating seasonal food

insecurity or Monga for char dweller. Poverty and
idiosyncratic flood risk are positively correlated and highly
significant (Rayhan, 2010). Above 16 to 70 percent of
flooded households fall into poverty after flood depending
on the situation and locations (Rayhan, 2010). Houses
are damaged during floods and their assets like livestock,
crops and boats are in risk every year. This increases the
vulnerability of the local population.

Due to riverbank erosion every year unemployment,

landless and poverty are increasing which is responsible
to country wide unstable condition (Rahman, 2010). It
has been estimated that tens of thousands of people are
displaced annually by river erosion in Bangladesh,
possibly up to 100,000. Aftermath flood disease causes
severe health hazards of human and animal. The disease
causes loss of production and economy that lead to
seasonal food insecurity (Monga) of char dwellers.

Causes and possible solutions of seasonal food insecurity (Monga) perceived by char dwellers in Bangladesh

Sarker MNI.

008

Deprive from actual wages was another cause of poverty

as responded by 9% households in the study area. Wage
laborers often suffer during floods, because the scopes of
work and wage rates shrink at that time. It is estimated
that real wages fall by more than 10 percent during the
floods (Azam 1993).
The most direct disastrous impact of flooding in
Bangladesh arises from damage to standing crops,
affecting the small farm holders significantly. As a
consequence, poorer households fall into debt and lastly
choose to migrate in nearby cities to enhance their
livelihoods. Historic studies from the mid 1980s indicate
that in some slums in Dhaka more than 40% of the
population named river erosion as primary cause for their
migration into slums. In a study by Islam (2012) the
majority (65.21%) of the respondents were migrated due
to river bank erosion of Tista flood plain areas.
The problems of Monga thus highlighted by the
households appear to be serious matters of concern and
policy decisions. The problems of floods and flash floods
coupled with river erosion not only made them homeless,
assetless and cropless but also stopped their all
economic activities apart from disruption of road
communication networks, immense suffering of healthrelated issues causing them sick and idle, including
livestock and poultry rearing also.

Need based training facilities should be arranged for

increasing awareness, management ability and
operational ability for practicing diversified farming
activities in achieving their household food security may
be arranged.
Char dwellers should have opportunity to be involved in
project formulation and implementation.
Arranging motivational campaign using group and mass
media to inspire family members to co-operate each
other as well as to minimize social and religious
restriction and increase personal interest.
Government should acquire several policies for road
construction and some other private association that will
facilitate to communication and transports.
Granary should be established for storage and better
conservation of food crops.
Family planning methods that could attempt to reduce
population growth to acceptable levels that can
conveniently allow for sufficient and efficient resource
allocation and utilization by all.
Credit availability should be increased GOs and NGOs
for farming and off-farm activities according to demand of
the char dwellers.

Recommendations
security

Azam JP (1993). The impact of floods on rural real wages

in Bangladesh, The Bangladesh Development Studies,
XXI 1 :1-14.
Chowdhury EH (1988). Human adjustments to river bank
erosion hazard in the Jamuna floodplain, Bangladesh.
Human Ecology 16 (4):421-37, doi: 10.1007/
BF00891651.
Cochran WG (1977). Sampling Techniques, 3rd Edition,
John Wiley, pp 75.
Cordier L, Kenward S, Islam R (2013). A study to assess
the outcomes of the CLP on Food security; Chars
Livelihoods Programme.
Haque MM (2011). Monga Mitigation through Adoption of
Intensive Cropping System, Krishi Gobeshona
Foundation. No. 01, 2011.
Islam M (2012) Impact of char development on
agricultural productivity,
livelihood status and
environmental adaptations of char land dwellers around
the Tista flood plain areas of Rangpur district. MS
thesis, Department of Environmental Science
Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh-2202.
Paul SK, Hossain MN, Ray SK (2013). Monga in northern
region of Bangladesh: a study on peoples survival
strategies and coping capacities. Rajshahi University
journal of life and earth and agricultural sciences .Vol.
41: 41-56.
Rahman MR (2010). Impact of riverbank erosion hazard
in the Jamuna floodplain areas in Bangladesh Journal
of Science Foundation, 8(1and2): 55-65.
Rayhan MI (2010). Assessing poverty, risk and vulnerability:

for

achieving

seasonal

food

A short duration rice variety should be introduced with

plantation and harvest of potato/ wheat in time in Char
areas.
An appropriate cropping pattern should be followed like
Rice-Potato/wheat-Mungbean.
Job opportunities should be created through introducing
off-farm activities.
Farmers should be given the opportunity to acquire loans
at low interest rates and create off-farm activities for
themselves to improve their revenues and purchasing
power, thereby reducing food insecurity and poverty.
Pricing and marketing reforms should be reviewed.
Market prices for food crops need to be stabilized so that
the farmer is sure to sell his surplus at a profitable price.
This will motivate them to diversify and intensify food crop
production.
Public infrastructure such as well equipped hospitals,
schools and markets should be established. Health care
centers should incorporate into syllabus specially on
childcare, better nutrition and sanitation methods.
Through this morbidity and mortality due to malnutrition,
under nutrition and poor sanitation conditions could
reduce.
Government strategy should be redefined regarding
property tenure so that sharecroppers who in fact
cultivate can make choice concerning farming activities
and obtain equal part of benefits from the crops.

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Causes and possible solutions of seasonal food insecurity (Monga) perceived by char dwellers in Bangladesh

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Accepted 17 February, 2016.
Citation: Sarker MNI (2016). Causes and possible
solutions of seasonal food insecurity (Monga) perceived
by char dwellers in Bangladesh. International Journal of
Ecology and Development Research, 1(1): 002-009.

Copyright: 2016 Sarker MNI. This is an open-access

article distributed under the terms of the Creative
Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted
use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original author and source are cited.

Causes and possible solutions of seasonal food insecurity (Monga) perceived by char dwellers in Bangladesh

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