Migration Impacts on Agricultural Livelihoods
Summary
Migration exerts a multifaceted influence on agricultural livelihoods through the interplay of labour mobility, financial flows and land‐use dynamics. Labour outflows from rural areas often lead to seasonal or chronic shortages of farm hands, compelling remaining household members to adopt labour‐saving technologies or to contract external labour. Conversely, remittances sent by migrants can bolster household incomes, enabling investments in irrigation, improved seed varieties and mechanisation. Such financial inflows also shape land tenure decisions, prompting purchase of additional land or the reversion of marginal plots to fallow. Migration can thus drive agricultural intensification in some regions while generating extensive land‐use change and underutilisation in others. These shifts bear consequences for food security and environmental sustainability, as land abandonment may foster reforestation whereas intensified cultivation can accelerate soil degradation. Moreover, circular and return migration facilitate the transfer of skills, knowledge and entrepreneurial aspirations that further reshape rural economies. The global significance of these processes is evident from smallholder communities in South Asia to agro‐pastoral systems in Latin America and sub‐Saharan Africa, where migration shapes both the resilience and vulnerability of farming households.
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Migration Impacts on Agricultural Livelihoods publication trend
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Technical terms
Remittances: Monetary transfers sent by migrant workers to their households in origin communities, often used for consumption or investment in agriculture.
Land use change: Alteration in the utilisation of land parcels, including conversion between cropland, pasture, forest or fallow.
Agricultural intensification: Increase in agricultural output per unit of land through inputs such as fertiliser, irrigation or mechanisation.
Extensification: Expansion of cultivated land area to maintain or increase overall production, often at the expense of natural habitats.
Livelihood diversification: Adoption of multiple income‐generating activities by rural households to spread risk and enhance resilience.
References
- Remittances and land change: A systematic review. World Development (2023).
- Migration, Remittances, and Forest Cover Change in Rural Guatemala and Chiapas, Mexico. Land (2020).
- Development impacts of migration and remittances on migrant-sending communities: Evidence from Ethiopia. PLOS ONE (2019).
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