Famine In Bangladesh To Be Worse This Year ..... .....
http://www.newagebd.com/2007/oct/02/nat.html#2
New Age, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Flood aftermath likely to make monga more biting
Staff Correspondent
Monga, a seasonal famine-like situation now concentrated in greater
Rangpur region, also arises out of ecological vulnerabilities such as
floods, river erosion and intrusion of sandy soil into farmland,
showed research findings presented at a workshop on Monday.
The workshop expressed apprehension that the monga [spanning from
mid-October to mid-November] this year might be more severe as a
consequence of floods and price-spiral of essential commodities,
unless urgent mitigation programmes were undertaken immediately.
'Life will be under serious pressure due to the floods and price-
hike,' said economist Wahiduddin Mahmud, who chaired the opening
session of the two-day workshop on 'scaling up comprehensive monga
mitigation' at the LGED auditorium in the city.
With the slogan 'Mora Kartik to Bhora Kartik' [from a Kartik of
famine to a prosperous Kartik], the workshop called for long-term
measures to end monga in 5 to 6 years and also short-term measures
such as food subsidy, soft loan and employment to help the people
overcome the 'ugly manifestations' of poverty.
'Apart from the understanding of seasonal monga, we have to focus
on other vulnerabilities and take national preparations so that we can
get rid of monga in 5-6 years,' said Hossain Zillur Rahman, executive
chairman of Power and Participation Research Centre.
In view of urgency in this year, he suggested measures including
advanced payment to workers, increasing number of beneficiaries of
Vulnerable Group Feeding and Vulnerable Group Development programmes,
and doubling the allocations for post-flood agriculture
rehabilitation.
The research centre in association with the agriculture ministry,
the government's apex micro-finance window Palli Karma-Shahayak
Foundation, and Local Government Engineering Department organised the
workshop with the assistance from the UK Department for International
Development.
A research study on four districts -- Kurigram, Gaibandha, Rangpur
and Nilphamari -- presented at the workshop said that the poor of this
region used to face starvation and other livelihood hard****ps despite
the greater Rangpur being a food-surplus region.
Also, monga still persists, although there is no dearth of anti-
monga programmes since the issue came into national focus several
years back, the re****t pointed out.
In this context, Hossain Zillur called for a policy coalition to
streamline monga-mitigation preparedness. He said representatives of
various organisations working in the monga-prone areas were invited to
the workshop to exchange views and share experiences to enhance
coordination towards a comprehensive approach to monga mitigation.
Wahiduddin Mahmud suggested a set of measures -- farmland
development, rehabilitation of farmers, crop diversifications, non-
farm activities, establi****ng marketing chain, and improving
infrastructures -- to address monga in a long-term context.
He also mentioned that the government should provide financial and
technical assistance to provide a good number of people in the mong-
prone areas with overseas jobs to facilitate enhanced cash flow into
the region.
PKSF managing director Mosharraf Hossain Khan said the micro-
finance organisation had also emphasised mitigation of monga through a
number programmes, besides its focus on poverty eradiation programmes
through micro-credit.
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