Implications of out-migration in rural agriculture: a case study of Manapang village, Tanahun, Nepal

This study was undertaken to assess the relationship between agriculture and migration in Manapang Village Development Committee (VDC) of Tanahun District, Nepal. A total of 120 randomly sampled households were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire. Results showed that the average land holding size, irrigated land holding size, livestock holding, income from agriculture, and investment of household income in agriculture to be higher in non-migrating households than in migrating households, whereas total household income was higher in migrating households than in non-migrating ones. The marginal value productivity of labor was lower for major crops than the average wage rate for non-farm work. The size of abandoned land was higher in migrating than non-migrating households. The average share of remittances in household income was 62.50% in migrating households. Out-migration affected the total annual gross agricultural production significantly contributing 16.80 percent to the total variation negatively. A large proportion of the remittances were used for consumption purposes, but only 5% was used in agriculture. Findings of this study reveal that although migration has a positive effect on the overall economy in the rural households, agricultural productivity suffers as a result.