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

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1 International Journal of Ecology and Development Research Vol. 1(1), pp , March, ISSN: XXXX-XXXX IJEDR 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. Phone: 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

2 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 people s 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

3 Int. J. Ecol. Devel. Res. 003 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. REVIEW OF LITERATURE 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 people s 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 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). METHODOLOGY 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 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

4 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, 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 years and a standard deviation of 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 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 person s 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 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

5 Int. J. Ecol. Devel. Res. 005 Table 1. Salient features of the socio-demographic characteristics of the char dwellers. Selected characteristic s Measuring unit Ranges Categories Respondents Mean Std. deviation Possible score Observed score No. Percent Age Year Young (<35 years) Middle aged (35-50) Old (>50) 2. Education Year of schooling None (0) Very low (0.5) Low (1-5) Medium (6-10) Family size Number Small family (up to 4) Medium family (5-6) Large family (>6) 4. Fatalism Rated Low fatalism (Up to score 12) Medium fatalism (13-25) High fatalism (> 25) 5. Agricultural knowledge Score Low (up to 10) Medium (11-20) High (>20) 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. One s 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 and a standard deviation of 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 and a standard deviation of 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

6 Sarker MNI. 006 Table 2. The Causes of Seasonal Food Insecurity or Monga of Char Dwellers as Perceived by them. Sl. No. Causes of seasonal food insecurity or Monga Number of Rank citation 1 Lack of job opportunity in Monga season specially September to 49 December in every year. 1 2 River bank erosion in the char area No agricultural work, no business activities due to excessive rainfall, 32 dense fogs, hailstorms, severe cold, etc. 3 4 Inadequate land for farming due to sandy soil Frequent flood inundation Lack of money or capital or necessary fund Inadequate training facilities Lack of knowledge of different aspects of farming enterprises Inadequate educational facilities Encroachment of char land by terrorist Diseases of cattle, goats and sheep High rate of interest on borrowing invested by the vested group Insufficient credit facilities Lack of storage or processing facilities Lack of contact with communication media Social and religious restriction Lack of cooperative activities 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 Over population Dowry system Drought causes food crisis Poor communication facilities Diseases and insects attack on crops Lack of employment opportunity Laziness of char dwellers Frequent migration of char dwellers Diseases of poultry birds Marriage of under aged people Bereft from actual wages Lack of capital for cultivation of crops and business No purchasing capacity to buy food and medicine Frequent cyclone Migration to other districts for earning income. This is an idea that nobody 3 likes in the community Lack of self awareness Lack of willingness of service providing agencies Running of cases Inheritance of poverty Lack of knowledge about land law 1 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 The respondents were asked to mention the possible ways 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. Creation of year round job opportunities for char dwellers

7 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. Sl. No. Possible ways for achieving seasonal food security Number of Rank citation 1 Creation of year round job opportunities for char dwellers Control of river bank erosion by constructing dam Diversified crop cultivation practices should be introduced A huge arable land should be brought under cultivation by proper 29 4 soil management. 4 A proper coping strategy should be introduced by the Government 21 5 and NGOs for survival of char dwellers at flood situation. 5 6 Educational facilities should be ensured by the Government Char dwellers should be given the opportunity to acquire loans at 19 7 low interest rate. 7 8 Increasing cultivable land by proper management Training facilities should be ensured by the Government and NGOs 17 9 especially for income generating activities Communication and transport facilities should be increased Control of diseases of cattle, goats and sheep Providing knowledge of different aspects of farming enterprises through frequent training arrangement by GOs and NGOs Control of land encroachment by enforcing law Control of high rate of interest on local borrowing money from Mohajon (money lender) by law enforcing agency Capital for cultivation of crops and business should be ensured Sufficient credit facilities should be ensured for char dwellers by GOs and NGOs Self awareness among char dwellers should be increased Storage or processing facilities should be developed in char areas Control of diseases of poultry birds Population growth control Protect dowry system Control of diseases and insect attack of crops Embankment should be constructed to protect flood Control of under aged marriage Awareness about land law among char dwellers should be created Flood rehabilitation shelter should be constructed Need service providing agencies Regular migration should be protested Infrastructure in char areas should be developed by GOs and 7 29 NGOs. 29 Service providing agencies should be worked willingly for char 6 30 dwellers. 30 Community and religious leaders should be shared knowledge 2 31 about superstition and other farming and off-farm activities. 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.

8 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. Recommendations for achieving seasonal food security 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. 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. REFERENCES 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: / BF 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, 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 Paul SK, Hossain MN, Ray SK (2013). Monga in northern region of Bangladesh: a study on people s survival strategies and coping capacities. Rajshahi University journal of life and earth and agricultural sciences.vol. 41: Rahman MR (2010). Impact of riverbank erosion hazard in the Jamuna floodplain areas in Bangladesh Journal of Science Foundation, 8(1and2): Rayhan MI (2010). Assessing poverty, risk and vulnerability:

9 Int. J. Ecol. Devel. Res. 009 A study on the Flooded Households in Rural Bangladesh. Journal of Flood Risk Management, 3(1). Sarker JR, Mian MRU, Roy SS (2012). Farmers' perception about causes and remedies of Monga in Hatibandha upazila of Lalmonirhat district. J. Bangladesh Agril. Univ. 10(1): Sarker MNI, Kashem MA, Rahman MZ (2007). Poverty alleviation of rural people through chars livelihoods program. Journal of Bangladesh Society of Agricultural Science and Technology, 4(3and4): Shahiduzzaman M, Rahman MZ, Hoque MJ, Arefin MS (2013). Food security condition of landless people in a char area of Rangpur district; Progress. Agric. 24(1 and 2): Zug S (2006). Monga -seasonal food insecurity in Bangladesh: bringing the information Together" in The Journal of Social Studies, No. 111, July-Sept. 2006, Centre for Social Studies, Dhaka. Accepted 17 February, 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): 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.