MONGA - CYCLES OF POVERTY AND HUNGER IN NORTHERN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 DHAKA 005633

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/17/2015
TAGS: EAID EAGR ECON PGOV TBIO BG AGR CARE CDC
SUBJECT: MONGA - CYCLES OF POVERTY AND HUNGER IN NORTHERN
BANGLADESH

Classified By: Economic Chief David Renz, reason 1.4(d)


1. (U) SUMMARY: Each fall and winter, the northern rural
agricultural districts of Bangladesh experience "monga," a
period of severe food insecurity coupled with high seasonal
unemployment as a result of natural gaps in the normal
planting season on which these regions depend. Government
food programs and rice subsidies are designed to mitigate the
effects of monga. This year's monga has been particularly
bad due to unusual flooding in September and October.
Opposition leaders are pursuing their perennial tactic of
blaming the government for an inadequate response. END
SUMMARY.


2. (SBU) According to a draft report by CARE Bangladesh, the
monga this year is particularly bad. CARE cites unusual
flooding in September and October as the most significant
factor, noting that the floods destroyed houses as well as
nutritionally critical standing crops of rice and vegetables.
There is virtually no demand for wage labor at this time,
when need for extra household money to repair damage to homes
and buy food is at its highest. Many families have already
begun a routine of eating a single, poor quality meal a day,
leading to chronic malnutrition and, in some cases,
starvation.


3. (U) The central government and some Union Parishad
authorities have begun some actions to alleviate this year's
famine in the northern regions. The Vulnerable Groups
Feeding (VGF) Program has been increased to reach out to more
of the hard-core poor. Unfortunately, there are anecdotal
reports, both from local government sources in the north and
the news media that there is no systematic approach to the
manner in which the assistance is being distributed. A
recent news report alleged widespread corruption in the VGF
Program. In some localities, army staff members have been
deployed to monitor the distribution of aid and the response
of the local government.


4. (U) Opposition leader Sheik Hasina is trying to make a
political issue out of alleged government failure to manage
this year's monga. During the SAARC Summit, she traveled to
monga-affected districts to highlight the plight of the poor.



5. (U) Monga occurs in the northern region of Bangladesh
because the soil there is naturally less fertile and the
natural disasters and climate are more severe than in the
rest of Bangladesh. Instead of the three harvests typical to
the rest of the country, Northern Bangladeshi farmers can
generally only eke out two. The poorest of the poor, the
"hard-core" poor, depend on agricultural wage labor. When
there is no harvest, there is no food and no work.


6. (U) Pregnant and lactating women, children, the elderly
and the disabled are the portions of the population most
vulnerable to malnutrition during monga. Babies are born
underweight and begin their lives in a cycle of malnutrition
and micronutrient deprivation that generally continues
indefinitely. Growth and development are stunted. The rate
of disease rises. Unrest, crime, domestic violence, begging
and the migration of men and boys to cities and richer rural
areas all increase at this time.


7. (U) These migrating men and boys leave behind female
family members who are unable to engage in the market economy
or to move about due to social norms. Many feel
discriminated against by their neighbors and their
families-in-law. The women and children left behind are thus
often unable to meet their most basic needs.


8. (U) The poorest, already deprived of many of their assets
in these latest floods of 2005, are being compelled to sell
what remains in order to buy food. With houses destroyed,
some land eroded and no money to be earned, many families are
forced to higher ground where they must live in the open.
Every year in this season, newspapers report deaths from
exposure due to the cold fog that rolls in the Northern
region and the already severely undernourished and weakened
state of the people forced outside.


9. (U) The hard-core poor also fall deeper into the cycle of
debt during monga. Labor pledging is a common phenomenon.
Men will promise to work without pay during the normal season
in exchange for food or money during the famine time. People
with no alternatives will also take out usurious loans from
local moneylenders. When the harvest season returns, it is
impossible for a poor family thus indebted to get ahead and
prepare for the next season of deprivation.


10. (C) COMMENT: Although invited to the 13th SAARC Summit
in Dhaka, Hasina instead sought to embarrass the government
by visiting the monga districts and criticizing the
government's response. In doing so, she avoided even a token
acknowledgement of the government's successful conduct of
this year's summit, and provided another example of the often
petty nature of politics in Bangladesh. END COMMENT.
CHAMMAS