Colour is not working with ncurses on target embedded system built with buildroot

Question

I have built an embedded linux environment for AMD Geode target. The kernel, cross toolchain and root file system were built using buildroot and the root file system resides on my host machine and is mounted over NFS. To test the environment I cross compiled a very basic ncurses application which simply changes the background colour of some text and moves it around the console. Everything is positioned correctly but no colours are displayed. I know the system is capable of displaying colour as the output from ls commands are coloured so I know its not a monitor problem. The application also works as expected on my host machine. Is it possible that I need to configure something within the kernel and rebuild it to enable coloured console output using ncurses or is it likely that it is a problem with the buildroot crosstools or cross-compiled ncurses library?? I am not a linux expert and frankly was very surprised that this application didn't work as expected and really am at a loss as to where to start to identify the cause.