This report, based on data from a survey of 757 rural households in seven flood-affected regions (thanas) conducted in November and December 1998 and on analysis of secondary data on food grain markets, describes how Government of Bangladesh policy, well-functioning private markets, household coping strategies, and donor and NGO interventions combined to avert a major food crisis.

To further enhance its food security, Bangladesh needs continued investments in agricultural research, extension, roads, electricity and other rural infrastructure, policies promoting efficient markets, and programs to provide targeted transfers and credit to poor households.

Paul A. Dorosh, a senior research fellow in IFPRI's Markets and Structural Studies Division, focuses on food mar-kets and macro-micro linkages. He was Chief of Party for IFPRI's FMRSP in Dhaka, Bangladesh, from 1997 to 2001. He was previously an associate professor with the Cornell University Food and Nutrition Policy Program.

Lisa C. Smith, a research fellow in IFPRI's Food Consumption and Nutrition Division, examines the determinants of malnutrition, the health and nutrition impacts of disasters, and the measurement of food insecurity in developing countries. She is a visiting faculty member of the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of Arizona.

Dilip K. Roy is a research fellow at the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS). He has conducted research on industrialization and employment, international trade, the service sector, the economic impacts of flood control and drainage, demand analysis, the rural labor market, and household food and non-food expenditures in rural areas.