Seasonal Hunger and Its Mitigation in North-West Bangladesh

Seasonal hunger may result from seasonality of agriculture when households fail to smooth income and consumption. Using household survey data from the north-west region of Bangladesh, this article examines alternative measures of seasonal hunger, and provides some evidence to support policies and pr...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Khandker, Shahidur R., Khalily, M.A. Baqui, Samad, Hussain A.
Language:en_US
Published: Taylor and Francis 2013
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10986/13370
Description
Summary:Seasonal hunger may result from seasonality of agriculture when households fail to smooth income and consumption. Using household survey data from the north-west region of Bangladesh, this article examines alternative measures of seasonal hunger, and provides some evidence to support policies and programmes needed to mitigate seasonal hunger. The results suggest that a large majority of food-vulnerable households are the perpetual poor, as opposed to a small percentage of households who are subject to food deprivation only during the lean period. Findings suggest that government safety net programmes and microcredit provide a cushion for the poor to stave off seasonal hunger.