Setting up of agro-based industries and small and medium enterprises (SME) to create employment opportunities along with the introduction of quick high yielding varieties (HYV) of crops are also important factors to face the crisis.

A research on 'Selected poverty-stricken areas in the northern Bangladesh' made the recommendations which were revealed at a dissemination session of its findings at the National Press Club in the city yesterday.

Dr AMM Shawkat Ali, former agriculture secretary, conducted the research funded by Research Initiatives, Bangladesh (Rib).

The research on 1,267 households of 4 selected villages in Rangpur, Nilphamari, Lalmonirhat and Kurigram also recommended checking of river erosion, use of common resources including ponds and lowlands and monitoring and evaluation of resource flow channeled through Vulnerable Group Feeding (VGF) programme.

Food insecurity and seasonal joblessness during September and October when the hard-hit ultra-poor are forced to migrate to other districts for jobs or fall back on money lenders is known as Monga, said Shawkat.

The non-income dimensions of poverty presents a more dismal picture, he said, adding that 99 percent of the sample households have only traditional lighting facilities, 37 percent are unable to purchase new clothes, 72 percent do not have access to reading materials, and their sanitation facilities are unhygienic.

Sixty-five percent of the households depend on quacks, pirs and fakirs, he added.

Shawkat said, "The surprising thing is that 93 percent of the respondents do not have the access to credit from the government or NGOs when Bangladesh is believed to be the inventor of microcredit."

The migratory nature of the char people could be the reason for which the NGOs do not come up with credit programmes, the participants in the research observed.

The research revealed that 54 percent of the sample respondents are agricultural labourers having no agricultural land and the others are engaged in various occupations. Ninety-nine percent of the respondents have no training on income generating activities.

The Monga situation also exists in some other districts like Noakhali, Comilla or Faridpur from where people can immediately come to Dhaka, which is not possible for the people of Kurigram or Nilphamary due to financial crisis, Shawkat noted.

Khushi Kabir of Nijera Kori, Dr Jahangir Alam, member director of Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council, Dr Hamida Hossain of Ain O Salish Kendro, and Md Aktaruzzaman of Planning Commission were present at the presentation moderated by Rib Chairman Shamsul Bari.