Rural migration, agriculture and rural development

FAO

Rural migration, agriculture and rural development

In Brief: Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition

Year of publication 2018

Place of publication Rome, Italy ;

Pages 2

Author FAO

Publisher FAO ;

Product type Brochure, flyer, fact-sheet

Edition 1

Full item page

Synopsis (short abstract) Migration is on the rise and it is one of the more widely-debated topics in the development community. There is a growing focus on the causes and impacts of migration and the best ways to address the needs of affected communities and individuals. While migration has long been part of a wider process of development and structural transformation, migrants often feel they have no choice but to leave home, due to poverty or other harsh conditions. Despite the focus on international migration, most migrants move within their home countries. In 2017, international migration reached an estimated 258 million people, but domestic migration involved 763 million.

Language English

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Poverty and food insecurity are on the rise and the world is facing an unprecedented global food crisis. The deterioration of rural livelihoods, accelerated by climate change, is leading millions of people to migrate, especially within their own countries. Rural populations are among the most vulnerable to both extreme weather events and gradual environmental changes as their livelihoods depend on natural resources. Waves of reverse migration, like the one triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, showed the struggle rural communities also face in reintegrating migrants returning home. At the same time, migration can be an engine of economic growth and innovation, and it can greatly contribute to more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agrifood systems. FAO strives to make migration a choice and an opportunity for rural populations, and to maximize its benefits. This brochure presents FAO's work on rural migration, along with each priority for action. It provides a description of what FAO does, with whom and why, presenting tangible results and stories from the field.
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The deterioration of rural livelihoods is driving millions of people to migrate from rural areas, especially within their own countries. The challenge is how to make migration a choice and to maximize its benefits, as migration presents both challenges and opportunities. Rural areas may suffer from the loss of workforce, with risks for people who stay behind – especially women and children. Waves of reverse migration, like the one triggered by COVID-19, showed the struggle rural communities face in reintegrating migrants returning home. FAO addresses the root causes of migration and maximizes its benefits by creating alternatives to migration and providing training on agribusiness and climate-smart agriculture for prospective and returning migrants – in areas prone to food insecurity and climate-induced migration.
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Moving Forward, Looking Back: The Impact of Migration and Remittances on Assets, Consumption, and Credit Constraints in the Rural Philippines
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This paper investigates the impact of migration and remittances on asset holdings, consumption expenditures, and credit constraint status of households in origin communities, using a unique longitudinal data set from the Philippines. The Bukidnon Panel Study follows up 448 families in rural Mindanao who were first interviewed in 1984/85 by the International Food Policy Research Institute and the Research Institute for Mindanao Culture, Xavier University. The study interviewed the original resp ondents and a sample of their offspring, both those who have remained in the same area and those who have moved to a different location. This paper examines the impact of remittances from outside the original survey villages on parent households, taking into account the endogeneity of the number of migrants and remittances received to characteristics of the origin households and communities, completed schooling of sons and daughters, and shocks to both the origin households and migrants. When b oth migration and remittances are treated as endogenous, a larger number of migrant children reduces the values of nonland assets, total expenditures per adult equivalent, and some components of household expenditures. On the other hand, remittances have a positive impact on housing and consumer durables, nonland assets, and total expenditures (per adult equivalent). The largest impact of remittances is on the total value of nonland assets (driven by increased acquisition of consumer durables) and on educational expenditures. Thus, despite the costs that parents may incur in sending migrants to other communities, the returns, in terms of remittances, play an important role in enabling investment in assets and human capital in sending communities. Neither migration nor remittances affects current credit constraint status.