Migration and Agrarian Change in Nepal Plains
The widespread phenomenon of labor migration in Nepal has impacted every sector of the economy. There has been numerous study on evaluating the effect of migration on nation’s GDP, growth in the economy and in other macro-economic aspects. Also, the effect of remittance received from the migrants on Nepal’s economy has been cliché among many policy maker and scholars. It is found that the study on the effect of migrants on household’s life has often sidelined. Therefore, the present study makes an attempt to study on effect of migration on social and economic structure of the society at ground level. Despite the gloomy scenario of the agriculture, the agriculture is still a major sector of the nation’s economy contributing approximately 30 percent to nation’s GDP where almost 60 percent of the population are still engaged. Hence, the study was carried out to study the effect of migration pattern on agricultural households.
Using primary survey data (qualitative and quantitative) from the three districts of Terai/Madesh of Nepal the paper attempts to look at the impact on various economic outcomes of agricultural households such as farm business income, saving, usage of financial services, employment generation. It also makes an attempt to look at change in tenancy pattern, agrarian relation, land holding distribution, farm business income, local labor market, agricultural production. The scope for the modernization of the agriculture and adoption of modern technology and factors affecting this are also explored. Finally, it tries to capture relation between the tendency of youth to migrate and attitude towards agriculture in the plains of Nepal.