Under CPD’s Young Scholars Seminar Series (YSSS) programme, Mr Mazbahul Golam Ahamad, Research Associate, CPD made a presentation titled Climate Risks, Seasonal Food Insecurity and Consumption Coping Strategies: Evidences from a Micro-level Study from Northern Bangladesh, on 25 July 2010. Based on a survey conducted in the northern region of Bangladesh, he discussed seasonal unemployment problem due to climate risk factors such as flood, the consequent food insecurity, and tried to explore the consumption coping strategies of the affected households.
The study recommended that short-term measures like food aid and employment generation programmes under social safety net in early September would increase the resilience of the food-vulnerable people. Medium-term measures of the government should include increasing buffer stock of foodgrains at the upazila level, ensuring convenient supply chain management and equitable allocation of sufficient food. Mr Ahamad also suggested a long-term plan for the government to develop alternative sources of employment for the affected people, such as agro-based labour-intensive industrialisation. All CPD researchers were present at the session.