Dynamics of Seasonal Migration of Rural Livelihood: Capital Formation Perspective

Abstract

Globally, farming communities migrates considering it as a livelihood strategy, especially given unprecedented environmental change. Because migration facilitates poverty reduction, education improvement, entrepreneurial investments and even the economic evolution of the origin areas. Farmers in the northern region of Bangladesh migrate during the slack season when farming activities are not up to the mark. Driven by this context, this study examined the principal actors, the pattern of seasonal migration in the context of seasonal variability and migration's role in food security and livelihood resilience in the Barind Tract, Bangladesh. The participatory rural appraisal was employed for collecting basic facts and information. The study suggests that poverty is the root cause of migration, such that men from poor households with small landholdings and high food insecurity migrate for work during the winter. Moreover, the traditional practice of sharecropping, which helped them reduce food shortages, has also become less profitable these days. Therefore, the tendency of migrating is likely to escalating among the people of this region, and those already relocated are planning to settle down there for a more extended period. Currently, such migrants are getting engaged in low-paying unskilled wage work, construction work mainly in Rajshahi city, Mohadevpur, and Dhaka the capital city of Bangladesh, which enables them to make not only modest savings but also hard enough to repay the debt their family has incurred during food shortages.

Seasonal Migration as a Livelihood Strategy of Women Agricultural Labourers in Soul Ponamara Mouza of Hirbandh Block, Bankura District, West Bengal

“…Studies of Deshingkar and Daniel (2003), Islam et al (2019), Keshri and Bhagat (2010), Khatun and Roy (2016), Rafique (2003), Rai (2020), Rogaly and Coppard (2003) and Rogaly et al (2001) have shown the importance of seasonal migration in livelihood strategies of the SEBLP in rural areas and has been increasingly becoming an accumulative alternative for them. Numerous studies (Debnath, 2020;Garikipati, 2008;Ghosh and Mal, 2017;Keshri and Bhagat, 2010;Keshri and Bhagat, 2012;Rademacher-Schulz et al, 2014;Rafique, 2003;Rogaly and Coppard, 2003;Rogaly et al, 2001) have pointed out several factors of seasonal migration, where job opportunities and poverty are the primary reasons behind seasonal migration.…”

“…Temporary or seasonal migration is a short-term, repetitive or circular migration with a motive of a temporary change of residence (Zelinsky, 1971). Socioeconomically backward and landless people (SEBLP) of the rural area seasonally migrate to the nearest prosperous region because of unbalanced economic growth (Berchoux et al, 2019;Debnath, 2020;Debnath and Nayak, 2020;Islam et al, 2019;Keshri and Bhagat, 2010) and absence of duty in the family farm (Lindstrom and Ramirez, 2010;Mishra, 2020). It is very popular, especially in the slack season of agriculture to cope up with the poverty and unemployment (Debnath and Nayak, 2020;Ellis, 2008;Gill, 2003;Mishra, 2016;Serrat, 2017).…”