By Waliur Rahman BBC correspondent in Dhaka

The monga could be worse because floods hit food stocks badly

The MPs have warned that the situation could become as serious as last year, when thousands of people went without adequate food supplies for weeks.

The situation is known as "monga", or near famine.

It strikes in October and November, when food stocks run out and jobs dry up before the rice harvest in December.

Assistance programme

The World Food Programme warned that the monga would claim more victims than usual because of damage from floods to the country's rice crop this year.

The government says no one starves to death during these food shortages.

Millions of people in northern districts depend totally on agriculture.

The landless poor usually sell their labour in advance to survive during the monga period.

Now a parliamentary committee has asked the government to provide the poor with cash to buy food.

It also called for more job opportunities in the region as a long-term measure to prevent the monga.