While seasonality of income, consumption and poverty is not uncommon in rural Bangladesh, it is
more pronounced in the Rangpur region, where it is exacerbated by the region’s agroecology and
adverse economic geography. This paper, using three rounds of nationally representative data from
household income and expenditure surveys from 2000-2010, follows up on earlier findings based on
two rounds of data from 2000 and 2005 (Khandker 2012) to determine the extent and causes of
seasonality and the factors that helped to combat the severity of such seasonality. This paper adds
value to the earlier study in two ways. First, it examines whether the earlier findings still hold over a
longer timeframe. Second, having the benefit of three data points allows us to examine the trends in
outcomes and underlying factors. The paper finds that seasonal hunger, often known as ‘monga’ in
the North-West region of Bangladesh, is caused by both yearly aggregate of income and its seasonal
variation. The paper recommends that structural integration of labor, food, and credit markets is
necessary to alleviate endemic poverty as well as mitigate the adverse impacts of agricultural
seasonality. Combating seasonal hunger therefore calls for diversifying agricultural and rural
incomes as well as enhancing poor households’ capacity to insure against seasonalityю