Impact of Foreign Remittance on Land Holding and Land Relation in Rural Area of Bangladesh

|University of Dhaka

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Impact of Foreign Remittance on Landholding and

Land Relations in Rural Bangladesh: A Case Study

from Jirtoly, Village in the District of Noakhali.

Muhammad Aminur Rahman

Department of Development Studies

University of Dhaka

Honors Thesis

Date: 10/02/2013

Submitted by: R


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Section One

Declaration of Researcher-

I certify that this research does not incorporate without acknowledgement any material

previously submitted for a degree or diploma in any university; and that to the best of

my knowledge and belief it does not contain any material previously published or

written by another person except where due reference is made in the text.

…………………………………………..

Signature

Declaration of Supervisor:

I believe that this research is properly presented, conforms to the best specifications

of thesis presentation in the university and is prima facie worthy of examination.

………………………………………….

Signature


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To my beloved parents and elder brother Atiqur Rahman without them I

cannot simply imagine myself.


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Content

Title Page

No.

Section

One

Declaration 2

Contents 4

List of Map 6

List of Table 6

List of Figure 7

Acknowledgement 8

Abstract 9

Abbreviation 11

Section

Two

Chapter One

Introduction

Background 12

Justification 13

Objective of the study 15

Research Questions 16

Research Hypothesis 16

Chapter Two Analytical Framework

Formal Definition of the Concepts 17

Research Methodology 18

Source of Data 18

Sample Size 18

Sampling Technique 18


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Possible Technical / Practical

Problem

19

Chapter Three Review of Literature

Theoretical Issues of Migration 20

Some Theories of Migration

Network Theory 21

Segmented Labor Market Theory 21

World System Theory 22

Factors of Labor Migration in

General

22

Remittance and its Impacts 23

Section

Three

Chapter Four Migration and Remittance: at a

Glance in Bangladesh

29

Bangladesh Agriculture at a

Glance

32

Profile of Study Area: At a Glance

33

Determinants of Emigration from

Study Area

35

Section

Four

Chapter Five Findings and Data Analysis

General Findings

1. Profile of the Households 36

2. Types of Structure of the

Household 36

3. Number of Migrants in the

Households, their Age and

Education

37

4. Activity Distribution of the

Migrants 38

Case Study One 40


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5. Media of Managing VISA and

Sources of the Mobilization of

Money

42

6. Monthly Remittance Received

and Their Uses 43

7. Investment of Remittance

money

44

Chapter Six Impact on Land Holding

1. Types of Land ownership

and Amount of Land 46

2. Prices of Land Market 48

Case Study Two 48

Impact on Land Relation

1. Cultivation of Land 51

2. Situation of Share

Cropping 53

Chapter Seven Conclusion 56

Section

Five

Appendix Table and Figure of Findings 58

Questionnaire 63

Reference 74


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List of Map

Name of Map Page No.

Map 1. Village Jirtoly 34

Map 2. Begumgonj Upazila 62

Picture 1 48

Picture 2 50

List of Tables:

Table

No.

Name of Table Page No.

4.1 Remittance Earned from 1976-2010 32

4.2 Land Distribution in Different Sectors of

Bangladesh 33

5.1 Types of Structure of the Residential House 37

5.2 Level of Education of the Migrants 38

5.3 Types of Training Received by the Migrants 40

5.4 Types of Activities of the Migrants in Host Countries 40

5.5 Duration of Migration, Average Earning and Cost

of Migration.

42

5.6 Medium of Migration

42

5.7 Sector-wise Investment of Remitted Money 45

5.6 Contribution of Agriculture in Household’s Income. 55

6 Members of Household (%) 59


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List of Figures:

Figure

No.

Name of Figure Page No.

4.1 Year-wise Overseas Employment of Bangladeshis

from 1976 to 2010.

29

4.2 District-Wise Overseas Employment (Major Districts)

from 2005-2010

30

4.3 Country-wise Overseas Employment (Major Countries)

from 1976-2010

30

4.4 Year-wise Remittance Earned from 1976-2010 in

Million US$

31

5.1 Age-distribution of the Migrants. 37

5.2 Number of Years as Migrant 38

5.3 Monthly Earnings of the Migrants Abroad 39

5.4 Money Spent for Migration over the Year 43

5.5 Sources of Finance for Migration 43

5.6 Monthly Remittance Received by the Households (%) 44

6.1&6.2 Changes of Land ownership (Permanent) before and

after Migration

46

6.3&6.4 Land Ownership (Mortgaged in) before and after

Migration

47

6.5 Plan of Households to Build New homestead in

Agricultural Land

49

6.6 Percentage of Households Shifting Residence 47

6.7 Percentage of Land cultivation by Operation 51

6.8 Current Status of Land 51

6.9 Reasons of non-operation of agricultural land 52


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6.10 Percentage of Hired Labor Outside of Locality 52

6.11 Types of Agricultural Labor 49

6.12 Supervision of Farming Activities 50

6.13 Households Involved in Share Cropping 60

6.14 Occupation of Migrants before Migration 60


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Acknowledgement

With simple thanks, all gratitude cannot be expressed to my honorable and dear

teacher, a renowned economist of the country, Dr Mahbub Ullah, who supervised me

throughout my research despite his tight time schedule. His guideline, suggestions and

inspiration made my research easier. Thanks to him for giving me opportunity to gain

such precious knowledge which could never be learned in any other ways. Special

thanks to my fellow colleagues, Abdul Hamid, Sonam Saha, Tasfi Salsabil and

Hasnaine Molla who cordially helped me during my study. Thanks to Imran Hossain

Bhuiyan and Juwel Ahmed Sarker for helping me to develop the questionnaire. Thanks

to my friends Mahmudul Hasan, Hasan Morshed and Eusuf Ali for their help in my

field work. Special thanks to Md. Zayed Ibne Abul Fazal who cordially helped me in

editing my research paper. Thanks and gratitude to my beloved parents who always

inspire me to go ahead in any situation. Finally, thanks to local agricultural officer

Jasim Uddin for helping me to collect information on land prices, area and cultivation

of land. Above all, thanks to those respondents who generously helped me, though it

was not much pleasant for them.


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Abstract:

Remittance is the money which is sent by the migrants (temporary and permanent

both) to their home country. Now, more than 7 million people of Bangladeshi migrants

are sending remittance. During 1990s the remittance inflow in rural area, especially in

southern and eastern part of Bangladesh increased rapidly due to massive migration of

working age people. Now-a-days, remittance is regarded as the major source of foreign

currency earnings followed by the RMG sector in Bangladesh. But the net contribution

of remittance is the highest. Remittance has various impacts on the socio-economic

fabric. It has three types of impact on an economy— macro level, micro level and

meso-level impacts. At the macro level, it contributes to financing country’s trade

across the border. In micro level, it has various types of impacts on migrant households

such as regards earnings, education, health, land ownership and land relation

(production) etc. Besides, at meso-level, it has impacts like inequality in income, land

ownership, cost of agricultural production and labor crisis during on-season cultivation

etc. in the locality. Here, studied tried to explore the micro-level impacts of remittance

in the rural area. In this study, focus is concentrated on the change in land holding and

land relation which has occurred due to remittance injection in rural area during last

decades (2000-2010). No formal theory has been used in this study. Field study has

been conducted by using structured and semi-structured questionnaire. SPSS tools

have been used to analyze the outcomes of the field study. Qualitative and quantitative

methods have been used in describing and analyzing those outcomes. Two case studies

have been presented to focus on the negative impacts of remittance and massive

migration of working age people, particularly, male members of the households. The

village Jirtoly has been chosen for the field study in the district of Noakhali. Because

here, the major portion of working age people are staying abroad. As a consequence,

remittance is the key earnings for most of the households. Moreover, agricultural land

is scarce here. So most migrant households are attracted to invest on land property due

to high rate of gains in land price. Growing tendency of building new houses on

agricultural land is decreasing the availability of cultivable land. In addition, massive

migration has created pressure on the supply of farm labor. Here, cultivation has now

become highly dependent on hired labor from the outside of locality. This study has

been conducted mostly to find out whether remittance has any impact on temporary

(mortgage) and permanent land ownership pattern. The study engaged to find out

whether any change has occurred in land relation due to the injection of remittance.

The key findings of the study are— Land ownership has changed in rural area through

selling out land or mortgaging for mobilizing money in the process of migration.

Source of agricultural labor in migrant prone area has changed. In addition, it would

be seen that some households have given up farming due to lack of working age people

in the household, scarcity of hired labor and higher cost of production. The study found

that share cropping has increased. In addition, it has been seen that major portion of

land is now in the ownership of migrant households. Outcomes of the study are true

and applicable for those regions which are similar with the study area in terms of


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migration intensity and land-man ratio etc. Finally, the study has explored the

dynamics of land holding and production relation because of remittance inflow. This

study has also explored some general impacts of remittance. Some negative impacts

of migration and remittance in specific cases have been given to show the drawbacks

of migration and remittance.


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Abbreviation:

ADB: Asian Development Bank

APO: Asian Productivity Organization

BAIRA: Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agency

BBS: Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics

BIDS: Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies

CPD: Centre for Policy Dialogue

FAO: Food and Agricultural Organization

HYV: High Yielding Variety

IMF: International Monetary Fund

IOM: International Organization for Migration

KSA: Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

MES: Manufacturing Execution System

MoA: Ministry of Agriculture

NAP: New Agriculture Policy

NAEP: New Agriculture and Environment Policy

UN: United Nations

UNDP: United Nations Development Program

USA: United States of America

UAE: United Arab Emirate

EU: European Union

SME: Small and Medium Enterprises

BRRI: Bangladesh Rice Research Institute.


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Section Two

Chapter One

1. Background:

Migration is the movement of people from one place to another for taking up

permanent or semi-permanent jobs and other purposes across or within a political

boundary. Temporary migration is the seasonal movement of people for jobs in the

agricultural sector or other sectors in a particular season of a year. Migration has been

occurring throughout the human history. It occurs at a large variety of scales:

intercontinental (between continents), intra-continental (between countries within a

given continent), and regional (among different adjoining countries) and within a

country. Amongst these, the pattern of rural to urban migration is very significant—

the movement of people within different parts of a country in search of better

opportunities. This occurs for various reasons. Two key factors of such migration

are—

1. Push Factors: the factors that drive people to leave a place for certain

difficulties such as food shortages, war, flood, unemployment, crime etc.

2. Pull Factors: the reasons that attract people to migrate for better opportunities

such as greater job opportunity, nicer climate, better food supply, freedom, etc.

These factors may occur alone or collectively in the process of migration. For example,

we can imagine a region which has gone through a natural disaster recently, has large

unemployment, restricted freedom, less academic chances and warlike situation. These

environmental, political, economic or cultural factors selectively or as a group may

affect the process of migration.

Every year many people migrate from one country to another for various reasons or

purposes. Despite the unwillingness of countries to loosen immigration policy, a large

number of people living outside their country of origin rose from 120 million in 1990

to about 214 million in 2011, as the United Nations (UN) estimates. According to the

2010 UN Human Development Report, these migrants accounted for

approximately 3.1 percent of the world population (as of 2010).

From pre-historic time, people have migrated from one region to another in seeking

better shelter or easier availability of food. Like others this is not a new phenomenon

for Indian subcontinent. It had a fine trade-link with other parts of the world from the

ancient times. To others, the subcontinent was a rich place for doing business. For this,

British, Dutch, Portuguese and so on came here. Though migration from Bangladesh

can be traced back to ancient periods, it occurred in a bigger scale after 1976. During

1980s, a large amount of Bangladeshis migrated abroad and this trend still continues

today. But, recently the rate of migration has slowed down because of constraints in

host countries like KSA, Kuwait, and Oman etc.


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Migration brings great opportunity for remittance earning for the country. Still now,

the contribution of this sector is the largest single component of our foreign currency

earnings. It helps to reduce the gap in balance of payments1. In last two and half years,

one million and sixty seven thousand Bangladeshis found their job abroad. (Prothom

Alo, Monday, August 1, 2011). Now, 7.5 million Bangladeshis are working in

different countries, which consist of 12.7 percent labor of the total labor force. Total

remittance sent by migrant workers was UD$10 billion in 2010, which consists 11

percent of total GDP. (Daily Star, Thursday, March 31, 2011). 11). Migrant people

contribute in host country’s economy as well as their home countries. Any economy,

which is capable of using the whole potential labor forces, can develop rapidly. Labor

forces only serve their country directly, if they got job at home. But in case of

Bangladesh, more than 5% of the potential labor force is unemployed and 28.7% is

under-employed (MES, 2009). This situation bound the people to seek for job outside.

As a result, unskilled (a large number of), semi-skilled and skilled (a few) Bangladeshi

had to migrate.

Remittance inflow has impacts mostly on the socio-economic fabric of rural

Bangladesh. Migrants’ household now got opportunities to expand their choices in

health care, education, food etc. The impact of remittance on land is also noticeable in

countryside. It influenced the local land ownership scenario. It increased credit

availability to both associated and non-associated households. Due to growing

earnings of migrant households, they are now in control of neighboring land market.

In one hand, remittance plays vital role in foreign currency earnings; on the other,

massive migration from rural area brings the anxiety of labor supply crisis in

agriculture sector. Farming in rural area has become dependent on hired labor. Due to

this, some of the migrant families have already given up self-cultivation. Remittance

also creates inequality among rural households in terms of income and asset holdings.

Land scarcity with huge remittance injection is responsible for raising land prices

uninterruptedly during last decade. These scenarios are more apparent in the southern

part of Bangladesh because here, especially from Chittagong, Noakhali, and Comilla

districts, there are a large number of migrants. This study was conducted in village

Jirtoly, a village of Noakhali district. The findings from this study may be factual for

those villages which are similar to the Village Jirtoly in many terms such as migration,

geographic standing, population, destination of migration etc. The reasons for

choosing this village as the study subject are—

1 The Balance of Payments (BOP) is the method countries use to monitor all international

monetary transactions at a specific period of time. All trades conducted by both the private

and public sectors are accounted for in the BOP in order to determine how much money is

going in and out of a country. If a country has received money, this is known as a credit, and,

if a country has paid or given money, the transaction is counted as a debit. Theoretically, the

BOP should be zero, meaning that assets (credits) and liabilities (debits) should balance,

source: http://www.investopedia.com/articles/03/060403. Last visited 17/12/2011.

http://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/bop.asp

http://www.investopedia.com/articles/03/060403.


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It is a migration prone area.

Most of the households are dependent on remittance.

On average, at least one member each of these households is staying abroad.

Migrant households hold most of the lands, which were hold by non-

migrants’ before.

Land price increased rapidly in this region due to remittance-led demand.

In peak season, labor crisis in agriculture becomes acute.

Production cost rose rapidly here in comparison to other regions of

Bangladesh.

Cultivation reduced to only crop in a year due to labor crisis.

Agricultural production is hugely dependent on hired labor.

Here, it is a common tendency for most of the remittance earning households

to buy land.

Its socio-economic situation is similar to the other villages of southern parts

of the country.

Researcher himself belongs to this village also.

2. Justification of the Study:

Remittance has multiple effects in rural areas of Bangladesh. It influences household

income, education, health, purchasing capacity of food and other necessary goods. Its

impact on landholding system is also noticeable in rural area. Remittance brings

opportunity for migrant households to buy new or regain sold and mortgaged land. In

rural areas, tendency of purchasing land by migrant households brings unequal

competition with non-migrant households in land market. Due to high competition,

hyperinflation occurs to land prices and day by day it is sky-rocketing. As a result,

land is getting concentrated in the hands of a people. This reality of changing land

ownership situation is almost unexplored.

Due to migration and remittance inflow, land relation has been affected. Massive

migration of work force (both internal and external migration) from agrarian economy2

created labor shortage (Lewis’ Two Sector model of economy3). Because of this

shortage, land owners now have to cultivate either by hired labor or through share

2Agrarian economy a culture or community in which agriculture is

the primary means of subsistence; an economy that relies heavily on agricultural production;

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/agrarian+society.

3 Arthur Lewis (January 23, 1915), “Economic Development with Unlimited Supplies of Labour”

(Manchester School) He is renowned in economics for his two sector model of economic

development, Industrial sector and traditional/ agricultural sector. According to him, marginal

productivity of agricultural sector is near to zero. So, for development surplus labor from traditional

sector have to be switch out to industrial sector.

http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economics/laureates/1979/lewis-autobio.html.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/agrarian+society

http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economics/laureates/1979/lewis-autobio.html


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cropping. Sometimes they shut down cultivation with the burden of higher production

cost. The shortage of labor supply also creates impact on agricultural production. As a

result, food demand may rise and supply may fall creating a serious concern. However,

a lot of academic work has been done on ‘migrants’ and ‘remittance’ during 1980s and

1990s by many researchers including Raisul A. Mahmud in collaboration with

Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS). Recently, Professor Tasneem

Siddiqui has also done substantia work on migration and remittance when she was a

fellow of International Organization of Migration (IOM) and Bangladesh Association

of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA). Agriculture is a popular study domain

for academicians. A lot of works has been done on peasant economy and agrarian

society. In Bangladesh, the well-known contributors to rural agriculture sector study

are Mahbub Hassain, Hosen Zillur Rahman, Mahbub Ullah and Atiur Rahman. They

substantially contributed in agricultural research with exploring the dynamics of rural

economy of Bangladesh. But a few works are found addreesing the relation between

remittance and land. This study carries out the impacts of remittance on the rural social

and economic activities. This study has found that major volume of remittance is being

used in consumption and medical treatments and the bulk investment of remitted money

goes in purchasing land. It is required to take proper policy and strategy for switching

out remittance money in more productive sectors. This study is important as it intended

to explore some unexplored impacts of remittance in rural economy such as inequality

in terms of land holding, income, and wealth. It is also important because it shows the

negetive impact of using remittance on agricultural land.

Objectives of the Study:

When a person from agrarian households decides to go abroad, he has to mobilize

substantial amount of money. For this most of them either sell out their land or

mortgage for a particular period of time. As a result, before going abroad, one type of

land holding change occurs. Again after a successful migration, some of them want to

get back their land or invest in purchasing agricultural land. For this reason, another

type of land ownership changes occur. On the other hand, due to migration in the

working age, land relation changes because of labor deployment changes, supervision

and use of land. However, this study has been conducted mostly to find out— the

changes of land ownerships in the rural area of Bangladesh during the last decade.

Special focus has been given on land holding size, reasons of change in land

ownership, and influence of remittance on these changes. This study has also been

conducted to find land relation in terms of land cultivation and labor deployment.

Following questions are posed to find the answers— is land cultivated by land owners

or cultivated by others? Do the households give up self-cultivation due to remittance

inflow and labor shortage? If all these happened, we may try to unfold the chain of

link between migration and consequent changes in land relation.


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Research Questions:

This study has been done to find the answers to the following questions—

Do remittance changes landholding in rural Bangladesh?

Do remittances have any impact on land relation?

How do they impinge upon overall production relation?

Research Hypothesis:

External source of remittance has impact on landholding and land relation in rural

Bangladesh.


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Chapter Two

Analytical Framework

Formal Definition of the Concepts:

Foreign- “According to the legal encyclopedia, foreign means, which belong to, or

operate in accordance with, another nation, territory, state, or jurisdiction, as in the

case of nonresident trustees, corporations, or persons” (Legal encyclopedia, cited in

Saleem W .M & Aslam .R.).

Remittance is- “The process of sending money to remove an obligation. This is most

often done through an electronic network, wire transfer or mail. The term also refers

to the amount of money being sent to remove the obligation” (Cultural Literacy, 2002,

cited in Saleem W .M & Aslam .R.).

Or, Remittances are “the portion of international migrant worker’s earnings, sent back

from the country of employment to the country of origin”. (IOM, 2002)

Landholding: it denotes “an area of land that someone owns or rent” Cambridge

Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, (Third Edition).

Or, “a piece of land that somebody owns rents; the fact of owning or renting land”.

Oxford advanced learner’s dictionary. (Seventh Edition, p.861).

Land Relation-Here, Land relation or Agrarian Relations is Production relations

in agriculture. Since land is the primary means of production in agriculture, the form

of land property is the basis of agrarian relations. The nature of agrarian relations is

determined by the nature of landownership and land tenure. Agrarian relations change

as conditions of landownership and land tenure change. (The Great Soviet

Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979), © 2010 The Gale Group, Last visited,

16/12/2011).

In other words, Land relation means agrarian relation or production relation among

owners, agricultural workers and land. It focuses on whether land is cultivated by land

owners or others. This relation can be of different types: such as, landowners

themselves engage in production activity directly by using household labor; or by hired

labor or owners do not engage in production directly but they rent out their land, such

as in share cropping or cash leasing for a particular time.

Rural Area is-“The area of or relating to farming; agricultural. Areas are referred to

as the countryside in modern usage. Rural areas can have an agricultural character,

though many rural areas are characterized by an economy based on logging, mining,

petroleum and natural gas exploration, or tourisms”. (Waqar M. Saleem &Raana A.).


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Research Methodology:

To perform this study, both quantitative and qualitative study method have been used

through structured and semi-structured questionnaire. A well defined structured

questionnaire has been used to collect required quantitative information. The reasons

of using structured questionnaire is-

To understand the changes occurring elaborately such as land holding size, labor uses

etc. requires both qualitative and quantitative description. In support of qualitative

description, semi-structured questionnaire has been chosen. To acquire supplementary

information out of quantitative value semi-structured questionnaire is more suitable.

As a result, semi-structured questionnaire has been used in the research. To estimate

the quantitative value, SPSS and Microsoft excel has been used.

Sources of Data:

a) Primary data- They have been collected from the selected area with well-defined

structured and semi-structured questionnaire. Questionnaire has been framed with the

consultation of the supervisor. Detailed information has been gathered by using

questionnaire as much as possible. To collect further information, help from key

informants was sought e.g. Banker, Union Parishad Chairman, and A/C Land of

respected Upazila and so on. Some case studies or in-depth interview have been

conducted with both migrant household members and non-migrants for better

understanding of the situation.

b) Secondary Data- They have been gathered from various literature, national and

international journals, magazines, news papers and from different online sources such

as BBS website, Bangladesh Bank website, Ministry of Expatriates Welfare’s website,

Ministry of Agriculture’s website and Ministry of Land etc.

Sample Size:

The sample size of the present survey consists of 75 from a total 350 households of

the village North Jirtoly. Among total respondents, 65 per cent were female and 35 per

cent were male. Only migrant households are included in the survey. It was conducted

by the researcher himself.

Sampling Technique:

Sample size is selected by using random sampling method. Random sampling is a

sampling method in which all members of a group (population or universe) have an

equal and independent chance of being selected. Households have been selected

randomly to capture diverse phenomena. Above all this method has been adopted to

escape from biasness to particular group or household. Those households have been

http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/sampling.html

http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/method.html

http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/member.html

http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/group.html

http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/population.html

http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/universe.html

http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/independent.html

http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/chance.html


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included whose members are currently staying abroad or have just returned from

abroad.

Possible Technical / Practical Problem:

In doing field work, several problems had to be handled. For example, some people

refused to give information. Sometimes they denied allowing entrance into their

houses, when male members were not present. Difficulties were faced in gathering

information from wealthy households. Often, they tried to evade responding to the

questions. Some people also hid information as they thought them to be personal and

confidential. Wealthy households of the village were afraid of income tax. Some

people tried to provide cooked information. As most of respondents were female, in

some cases they failed to give accurate information, particularly about land holdings

and monthly income. In addition, there was hurry due to time limit. So, cross checking

of information was not possible. Financial limitation also affected the study. In most

of the time, government officials at Upazila were not possible to contact. Due to lack

of adequate knowledge about amount of agricultural land and homestead, precise

information in some respects could not be gathered. For this reason, information

gathered from the respondents was checked with field level agriculture officer and

other adjacent land owners. It must be mentioned here that, as son of the locality I got

advantage also. Majority of the households gave me information spontaneously; most

of them talked to me friendly.

As an ancient means of livelihood, agriculture always has been a favorite area of

research to academicians. In comparison, remittance is a new field of research; its

academic history is not very old. It drew attention at broader space after the Second

World War because of market liberalization and easier movement of human beings

across the world. With Structural Adjustment program, many countries turned to open

market from restrictive economic policies. As a consequence of massive migration, in

response to the needs and welfare of migrants, International Organization for

Migration (IOM) was created by the United Nations (UN). Many countries opened

separate wings to look after the interests and welfare of the migrants. As an important

sector of the national economy of various countries, migration and remittance came to

draw special attention of governments as well as academicians.


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Chapter Three

Literature Review

Remittance is inevitably related to migration. So before analyzing the impacts of

remittance on rural area, it is better to have a look on the theoretical issues of migration.

Theoretical Issues of Migration

Migration literature unfolds two fundamental views on the migration-development

relationship: neoclassical (or equilibrium) and structural (or dependency) theory. The

neoclassical practice focuses on the equilibrium models which treat migration as a

voluntary-economic rational choice of mankind. Individuals seek to enhance their

economic conditions by responding to offered higher wages away from home. This

mobility ensures the optimal distribution and hence, efficient allocation of population.

If individuals have adequate information, rational and economic mentality, often move

to areas where they can sell their labor at higher price. Such mobility serves to restore

the balance between unequally distributed resources across space in a manner that

presumably benefits both destination and sending places (through remittances), and

the migrants themselves (Todaro, 1969, 1976; Massey, 1993, 1994 cited in Manohar

P. S. and Zaman H., 2009). The neoclassical position has been criticized because it

does not find sufficient empirical support and does not recognize the structural factors

which originate and control migration- “non-automatic reducibility of self interest to

the interest of the community and the fundamental role of the state” (Battistella, 1992:

116, cited in Manohar P. S. and Zaman H., 2009). The structural theory shifts its focus

from individual action to national and international political and economic forces, from

the micro-level to macro-social processes. Migration is viewed as a module of the

process of capital accumulation, generation and instrumental device for strengthening

the economy to the detriment of developing economies. The long-term result does not

restore equilibrium between uneven economies but reaffirmation of dependence of

“periphery” societies on “core” societies. The decision to migrate is, therefore, far

from a free, rational choice of profit maximization: it is instead a forced decision from

lack of alternatives at the local level (Portes and Walton, 1981; Massey, 1993, 1994,

1999, cited in Manohar P. S. and Zaman H., 2009). The structural approach not only

recognizes the fundamental importance of economic factors as the cause of

international labor migration, but also addresses the increasing landlessness and lack

of educational, cultural and institutional services in labor exporting countries. Potential

migrants view overseas employment either as a source of subsistence earnings, socio-

economic mobility, or personal fulfillment. Empirical analysis on the effects of

emigration has produced a plethora of literature.

A cursory overview of relevant migration literature reveals various models of

migration-development analysis. Tapinos (1982) (cited in Kubursi A. 2007) suggests

that the effects of emigration on labor-exporting countries can be analyzed at three


Page 23

levels: the impact of the departure of workers on employment, production and wages;

the transfer of funds and its effects on the living standard of family members, the

resultant income distribution, and productive accumulation and growth; and the effects

of return migration on the stock of human capital (from Adepoju, 1991: 53, cited in

Kubursi A. 2007). Papademetriou and Martin (1991), (cited in Kubursi A. 2007) have

proposed a model for the study of effects of labor emigration in the name of “three

Rs”. These are linked to recruitment, remittances, and return. The “three Rs” occur at

different levels. First, recruitment affects those who emigrate, thus making an impact

on employment and production. Second, remittances affect the living standards of

migrant households and thus the growth of communities. Third, returning migrants

affect the quantity and quality of the workforce. Many scholars have followed this

model to evaluate the developmental effects of emigration over a sending region. One

important variable missing in these models is the economic cost of migration. This is

important when, e.g. in Bangladeshi context, contract workers depend primarily on

families and other traditional sources for raising the sunk cost. This entails in a heavy

impact on the subsistence economy and thus influences the nature and extent of

developmental effects at micro level. Along with “three Rs”, the economic cost of

labor migration is also addressed in this study.

Theories of Migration 1. Network Theory

Kinship, friendship and shared community origins are hypothesized to be liable to

increase migration flows because they reduce the psychic and risk costs of

immigration. These network connections constitute a valuable social capital that

migrants can draw upon to gain access to foreign employment, and better wages and

working conditions (Boyd, 1989, cited in Uddin F. M. A., & H. T. J. 2006). There is a

rich literature on the immigrant multiplier effects4 where family members secure the

entrance of others. In the study area, it is found that most of the migrants go abroad

through family members or relatives. Networking actively worked in the studied area

also.

2. Segmented Labor Market Theory

Both neoclassical migration theory and new economic theory conceptualize migration

decisions as the outcome of rational economic calculations by individuals or families

as a response to the objective market forces or constraints. Segmented labor market

theory of migration takes, however, a different perspective, where immigration

responds to demand driven forces within structural imbalances of advanced economies

(Piore 1979, cited in Uddin F. M. A., & H. T. J. 2006). Capitalism raises segmented

4In general economy, the multiplier attempts to quantify the additional effects of a policy

beyond those that are immediately

measurable. http://www.investopedia.com/search/default.aspx?q=multiplier%20effects#ixzz

1gof0PftQ

http://www.investopedia.com/search/default.aspx?q=multiplier%20effects#ixzz1gof0PftQ

http://www.investopedia.com/search/default.aspx?q=multiplier%20effects#ixzz1gof0PftQ


Page 24

labor markets where primary market which generates high payment and secure jobs

coexists with a secondary market (i.e. typically generating insecure, low paying jobs,

and hazardous and unpleasant working conditions). Immigrants become desirable and

are sought for jobs in the secondary market where residents turn away from certain

occupations. In this respect, segmented labor markets theory is complementary to both

the neoclassical theory and new economic theory of immigration.

3. World Systems Theory

An international division of labor has emerged in the wake of globalization and the

extension of capitalism into distant regions (Uddin F. M. A., & H. T. J. 2006). Labor-

intensive production is a characteristic of developing countries and capital-intensive

production is now concentrated in a few cities in advanced countries. When groups of

people lose their secure patterns of living and working, become a large pool of

potential migrants. Unskilled workers saw their wages fall as the demand for their

skills dimmed, while skilled workers experienced major wage increases as the demand

for their skills escalated. Globalization according to the world system creates large

pool of highly mobile labor in developing countries while simultaneously creating the

linkages and connections to advanced countries’ labor markets (Rumbaut 1991, cited

in Uddin F. M. A., & H. T. J. 2006). Available evidence suggests that industrialization

and agricultural development as indicators of capitalist market development are

instrumental in inducing migratory flows according to the world systems theory,

particularly when they occur under unfavorable demographic and economic

conditions, and where the communities affected are connected to the larger world

markets and centers (Ricketts 1987, cited in Uddin F. M. A., & H. T. J. 2006).

Factors in Labor Migration in General

In recent years, the issue of foreign labor force has become serious economic, political,

and social matter. Rich and industrialized countries are magnets in labor migration. In

response to declining populations, increasing labor shortages and relative high wages,

ever-larger numbers of foreign workers are entering and often times illegally engaging

in unskilled work under poor and even dangerous working conditions (Manohar P. S.

and Zaman H., 2009). Many of these countries strictly prohibit the entry of foreigners

at unauthorized work while open doors more widely for skilled and specialized

workers. Resistance to movement of people is thus driven by economic and political

policies designed to enhance local labor quality by attracting a selected group of

workers, while erecting barriers to others. The combination of slow demographic

growth, earlier retirement age, and a dwindling pool of high school and college

graduates in effect guarantees that many industrialized nations will face labor

shortages at various points during economic cycles, thereby creating the demand to

supplement their human resources (Johnston 1991, cited in Manohar P. S. and Zaman

H., 2009).


Page 25

Remittance and its Impacts:

Remittance is playing a vital role in Bangladesh economy. Since 1970s its importance

in foreign currency earnings has been on the rise. The remittance sent by migrants has

considerable impact on country’s export and import. Because of its importance, several

macro and micro level studies have conducted to search better way of utilizing

remittance and finding out new destination for migrants. These studies enriched the

literature on remittances. In most of the cases, studies found out the reasons, results,

consequences of migration and remittance. Some studies have focused on socio-

economic impact of remittance in rural as well as urban areas of Bangladesh. Here, the

spirit of the study is mostly related to the impact of remittance in land holding or

ownership and land relation especially in terms of production relation. Though there

is abundant studies on migration and remittance and their impact on different segments

of economy and society, there are little studies about its impacts on land and land

related activities (Cotula L. 2004). New studies on it may reduce the knowledge gap on the

relation between remittance and agricultural land.

There is an important impact of remittance and migration of working age people over

rural socio-economy. Some researchers have slightly focused on this issue, among them

Mahmood (1991) shows that ownership of land prior to migration is an important determinant

of migration (Mahmood, 1991 cited in Murshid K.A.S et al. IOM, 2002). The consensus in

the literature about the relationship between migration and rural development remains

thin (Bonsu M. A. & Burger K. 2008). Bonsu M. A. & Burger K. (2008) ,say, in

focusing on remittance and agriculture, the evidence suggests that migration does not

usually lead to radical transformation of rural agriculture but it occupies a central part

in the maintenance of rural people’s livelihood (De Haan, cited in Bonsu M. A. &

Burger K. 2008). Croll and Ping (1997) (cited in M. A. & Burger K. 2008) shows from

a series of field study centered on Chinese village that high rates of out migration are

caused by land scarcity, rising cost of agriculture and a strong desire of villagers to

leave agriculture, and these in some cases lead to shortage of labor. Bigsten (1996)

(cited in M. A. & Burger K. 2008) argues that high wages (pull factor) are more

important than land scarcity (push factor) in explaining migration decision. Bonsu and

Burger (2008) note about negative impact of migration, that while migrants are away,

household have less labor to allocate to local economic activities. They further say, if

a migrants household’s marginal product on the firm is positive, crop production will

fall when the household sends out a migrant (Bonsu M. A. & Burger K. 2008). Taylor

et al. (2003) (cited in Bonsu M. A. & Burger K. 2008) notes that the adverse effects of

loss of labor may be high since migrants tend to be younger and better educated than

the average rural laborer. Rozelle et al. (1999) reports a significant and negative effect

on household cropping income, but Taylor et al. (2003) using the household farm

survey data collected by Rozelle in another paper found that although loss of labor to

migration has a negative effect on household cropping income, the overall effect of

migration on crop yields is positive. The loss in yield due to the reduction in available labor

may be compensated for by remittances from the migrants (Taylor et al. 2003; Rozelle et al.


Page 26

1999, cited in Bonsu M. A. & Burger K. 2008) which are used to purchase additional inputs

or substitutes for labor in cropping.

Asian Development Bank (ADB) estimated that from 1976 to June 2009 about 6.5

million workers went abroad from Bangladesh and remitted a cumulative $62.3 billion.

On the basis of destination, they categorized migration in three phases. During FY

1976-FY1990, migration has been characterized by mostly unskilled workers going to

the Middle Eastern countries predominantly to work in construction following the oil

price boom in the early-1990s. About 0.8 million workers or about 52,000 workers per

year went abroad and remitted $6.5 billion or nearly $0.44 million per year then.

During FY 1991-FY2000, Bangladeshi workers went in large numbers to the newly

industrialized South East Asian countries, e.g. Malaysia, Republic of Korea and

Singapore when they experienced a phase of rapid industrial and infrastructural

expansion requiring cheap and unskilled workers. This new trend, combined with the

continued outflow of workers to the Middle East, nearly quadrupled the size of annual

migration to more than 200,000. Remittance increased nearly three-fold to around $1.3

billion per year. Finally, during FY2001-FY2009, with the opening of new markets for

Bangladeshi workers in the East European countries and Italy, the annual migration

received a further boost and doubled to about 405,00 workers per year. Remittance

inflows increased four times to nearly $4.8 billion annually. (Asian Development

Bank, March 2010).

Literature found on remittance, shows that Purchase of land was the single most

important sector to which overseas remittance was put. (Mahmood, 1986; 1991 cited

in Murshid K.A.S et al. IOM, 2002). Siddiqui T. & Abrar R. C., (2003) also support this

finding. From the pattern of use of remittance one finds that for some families

remittance is the major source of income to maintain subsistence. (Siddiqui T. & Abrar

R. C., 2003).Construction and repair of house account for 15-40 and 10-30 percent of

total remittances received respectively. Average level of expenditure on house

building is the highest in Dhaka city, followed by Comilla, Sylhet and Noakhali

(Murshid K.A.S et al. IOM, 2002). Murshid K.A.S et al. (2002) say that rural migrant’s

households spend most of their remittance money on consumption, interest payment

and festivals than non-migrant family. Habibullah (1980), found that non-receivers of

remittance invested more in business than the remittance receivers in both rural and

urban areas (Habibullah 1980, cited in Murshid K.A.S et al. IOM, 2002). This denotes

that remittance money is used in less productive or non-productive sectors. In the

Bangladeshi context, according to Siddiqui and Abrar (2003), land is seen the safest

and a very profitable investment, in all kinds of land such as arable, homestead and

commercial land and so on. Mortgage in and mortgage out of land has also increased

due to migration and remittance inflow. Siddiqui and Abrar (2003) find that a

substantial amount of remittance is used to finance migration of other family members.

They estimates that 9.21 percent of remittance is used in purchasing luxurious goods

including cassette player, radio, television, computer etc. (Siddiqui T. & Abrar R.

C.,2003). Cotula (2004) notes that a significant amount of remittance money is used


Page 27

in building a new house or repairing the existing one. In Turkey, the 1970 “Abadan

Survey” found that 49 percent of remittances were spent on housing (quoted in Russel,

1986, cited in Cotula L. 2004). Similar results were reported for Pakistan (Gilani et al,

1981 cited in Cotula L. 2004). In Ghana, Kabki et al (2003) found that the majority of

the migrants interviewed were investing in a house for their family, and that most of

those who had not done so yet hoped to do it in the future (Cotula L. 2004). In the

Todgha oasis valley, Southern Morocco, remittances enable families to move out of

the traditional village and build new houses (de Haas, 2003, cited in Cotula L. 2004).

A study from eleven Mexican villages found that between 71 percent and 89 percent

of migrant households had expanded or repaired their house or built a new one (Basok,

2003, cited in Cotula L. 2004)).

Many empirical studies show that the major mode of land acquisition is inheritance.

The others form of transferring land ownership are purchases and various kinds of

gifts. Through purchase, land ownership has mostly been changed. (Andre C. &

Platteau P. J, march 1997).

Mahbub Ullah, a village economy researcher of Bangladesh, slightly touched on

migration and its impacts on land ownership transformation and land relation in his

book, Land Livelihood and Change in Rural Bangladesh (1996). Chapter three of this

book is about “Economic Structure, Income Distribution and Landlessness in

Bangladesh”. Here, he shows that rural household’s income is significantly correlated

with land property (Ullah M. 1996). He notes, over the years land-man ratio has

declined. The Poorest have lost their land but interestingly improved their income. The

middle income group lost both land property and income and the upper income group

has gained both land property and income. (Ullah M. 1996). Land ownership is also

changing through leasing out and leasing in (Ullah M., 1996,)

He says migration from Bangladesh is not new phenomenon. According to him—

Long distance migration for seeking jobs and economic prosperity is not new phenomenon for

Bangladesh. (Ullah M.,1996, p.53).

He says that the lack of employment opportunity at home led people to migration.

(Ullah M. 1996). To draw attention on the positive outcome of migration he notes—

Out migration of labor has brought an opportunity for Bangladesh government to reduce

unemployment problems, shortage of foreign exchange and investable surplus. (Ullah M.,

1996, p. 53).

Further he mentioned that—

The socioeconomic impact of international migration can be discerned from the socio-

economic background of the people undertaking such migration (Ullah M. 1996, p.54).

He says that the opportunities of developing the economies of Middle East are helping

some rural households of Bangladesh to stabilize or expand their economic base in


Page 28

land. (Ullah M.,1996). He found that a large number of migrants belong to middle and

higher landowning category. These migrants are likely to be having higher educational

status. He says various socio-economic survey results have shown that a strong

correlation exits between the level of educational attainment and the level of land

ownership. (Ullah M.,1996). Mentioning on land relation, he says—

Migration of working member of the households has transformed family-worker based farms

into hired-labor based farms. In some cases, it has resulted in the growth of lease contracts

which creates demand for labor in other households. (Ullah M., 1996, p.55).

Another person who also worked on remittance and its impact land related activities

is Lorenzo Cotula. He discussed about it in his famous writing, “Explaining the

Linkages between Remittances and Access to Land: a Conceptual Framework”. Here, he says, focusing on the positive impact of migration and remittance, remittance can

not only contribute to household’s livelihood it also can foster longer-term

development through investment in education, land and small business. It also can be

helpful in social development projects, such as schools, health centers etc. (Cotula L.

2004).

To draw attention to the challenges occurred due to migration and remittance inflow,

Cotula says few challenges have to be faced by the rural economy. The absence of a

significant portion of the adult population may create labor shortage. This labor

shortage may make the local economy highly dependent on remittance and

sustainability in longer term. Further, he says, migration may increase inequality, as

households receiving remittances are able to buy land and other key resources, set up

new businesses and improve their children’s education, conversely, households not

receiving remittance may see them unable to compete with remittance receiving

households because of poorer income. He also says that inflows of remittances may

intensify competition and even conflict in buying scarce valuable resources especially

in land. Finally, Cotula says, in urban and peri-urban areas, substantial remittance

inflows and lack of effective local planning may lead to unregulated urban expansion

into previously agricultural lands without adequate service provision. (Cotula L.

2004).

By drawing evidence from West Africa, he notes that, land is of crucial importance to

economies and societies, providing the basis for a major share of GDP and

employment in most countries, and constituting the main source of livelihood for a

large portion of the population of Africa. In many areas, however, valuable land is

becoming increasingly scarce, partly as a result of demographic growth. Competition

has therefore become stronger, and better resourced and connected groups are

positioning themselves to gain control over land. New players - often urban elites such

as civil servants, traders and politicians - are entering the land arena, and formal or

informal land transfers are mushrooming (Ouedraogo, 2003, cite in Cotula L. 2004)).

He says that as an important source of hard currency, international remittances may

contribute to these changes in land relations by enabling migrant households to

improve their access to land through purchases, rentals, loans, customary institutions

and a variety of other arrangements.


Page 29

To focus on the linkage between remittance and land Cotula says, within the highly

diversified livelihood strategies of rural households, land constitutes a key asset. He

says,

“The linkages between remittances and access to land are extremely complex and likely to

vary considerably from place to place, depending on local socio-cultural factors, on the local

economic and ecological context, and so on. They can take many different forms, from land

purchases funded through remittances to a variety of other land access mechanisms (rentals,

administrative allocations, loans, etc). (Cotula L. 2004)”.

They raise a range of issues, such as effects on land use patterns, on land competition

and disputes, and on land access for non-migrant households. The land-related effects

of remittances may take decades to materialize; for instance, de Haas (2003) (cited in

Lorenzo Cotula L. 2004) found that many migrants only started to invest in land after

more than two decades of absence.

Further he says-

“Studies from across the world show that purchases of agricultural land constitute a frequent

form of remittance use. Land purchases may be formal transfers of land ownership, or

informal transactions where the seller is not the legitimate owner (e.g. as land may be owned

by the state) or has no land title to prove his land rights. In Bangladesh, Mahamood (1992)

(cited in Cotula L.2004) found that some 15 percent of the remittances sent by migrants in the

Middle East went in land purchases, in housing 19 percent). (Cotula L. 2004)”.

In the Indian state of Kerala, Zachariah et al (2001) (cited in Cotula L., 2004) found

that a larger proportion of migrant households had bought land than non-migrant

households during the five years preceding their survey. In rural Egypt, Adams (1991,

quoted in Adams 1996, cited in Cotula L., 2004) “found that 73 percent of total per

capita expenditures on investment by external migrants went into the purchase of

agricultural and building land.

Cotula (2004) further says- “while migration and development policies have evolved in a

largely parallel way, in the literature a longstanding debate on the relationship between

migration and development has opposed “optimists” and “pessimists” (de Haas, 2003 cited

in Cotula L. 2004).. “Optimists” emphasize the benefits arising from remittances, which for

many countries are a precious source of foreign exchange as well as a major component of

household income. (Lorenzo C. 2004). Returned migrants bring back knowledge, ideas, skills

and experience (Ammassari, 2003 cited in Cotula L. 2004).

On the other hand, “pessimists” - particularly noticeable in the 1970s - stress the problems

created by substantial out-migration. First, migration may entail the loss of scarce skilled

labor (“brain drain”). Moreover, in agriculture-based economies where a significant portion

of the adult population is away, labor shortages may make the local economy highly dependent

on remittances, raising concerns for its sustainability in the longer term. Secondly, moreover,

migration may further deepen inequality, as households receiving remittances are able to buy

land and other key resources, set up new businesses and improve their children’s education,


Page 30

while households not benefiting from this source of income may see their access to such

resources and livelihood strategies reduced. (Cotula L. 2004)”.

In preceding Cotula (2004) says:

“A claim that is sometimes made is that out-migration and the ensuing labor loss may result

in a reduction of land under cultivation (Rubenstein, 1992, quoted in de Haas, 2003, cited in

Cotula L. 2004). However, in some cases remittances may help tackle this issue, by enabling

households to recruit hired labor to cultivate the fields. Migrants usually entrusted land

cultivation to other household members (women in particular), to sharecroppers or to hired

laborers. This improved wage levels and sharecropping conditions. (ibid, 2004)”.

From above discussion we realize that, most of the people migrate due to lack of

employment opportunity in home country. Some of them migrate for the desire of

better living. It also has shown that migration has impacts on land ownership and

cultivation pattern. Most of the literature says that land is seen as the safest sector of

using remittance money. Some of them say that in rural area, most of the remittance is

used for consumption and building new houses or repairing home but it depends on

the level of earnings of migrants household. At last, but not the least, most of the

literature shows that remittance has become important source of earnings for migrant

households in the rural area of Bangladesh. Missing part is that, none of these

literatures has focused rigorously on remittance and land property. Furthermore,

another missing point is— none of literature has focused on rising land prices, due to

cash availability through remittance. Due to building new home on cultivable land,

availability of agricultural land is declining and this phenomenon has not been

addressed. In Bangladesh perspectives, most of the studies were done in 19980s and

1990s. But new phenomenon has arisen due to greater remittance infusion. In recent

decade (2000-2010) remittance inflow has increased substantially. As a result, its

diverse impact on rural areas especially in land and land related activities is more vivid

than before. Finally, none of these literatures has made exclusive focus on the impact

of remittance on land holdings and relation. So, a dependable study has to be done for

exploring the recent trend of migration as well as impact of remittance on land holding

and relation in the backdrop of land scarcity. Here, it should be mentioned that

utilization and investment of valuable remittance can ensure welfare of both migrant

households and above all, for the nation by switching substantial amount of remittance

from non-productive sector to productive sector.


Page 31

Section Three

Chapter Four

1. Migration and Remittance in Bangladesh: at a Glance

People started massive migration from Bangladesh since 1976. Now, 7.5 million

Bangladeshis are staying abroad (figure 4.1). Remittance sent by them totals

461,713.56 crore taka (Table, 4.1) till November, 2010.

Figure: 4.1: Year-wise Overseas Employment of Bangladeshis from 1976 to 2010.

Source: Bangladesh Bank, up to Nov’2010.

It is noticeable from figure (4.2), that till 2008 the trend of migration from Bangladesh

was more or less consistently upward. Since 2009 it started going downward, because

of imposition of restriction on migration from Bangladesh by some Middle East

countries such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Specially, restriction by Saudi Arabia on

emigration from Bangladesh is significantly responsible in this case, because around

37 per cent of Bangladeshis’ destination is there. Other causes may be, recent

economic recession all over the world as some countries curtailed employment of

overseas workers due to financial crisis. Negative propaganda about Bangladeshi

workers in print and electronic media is another cause of falling migration rate. Illegal

activities, in reality, by some Bangladeshis in host countries are also liable for it. As a

consequence, many migrants have lost their job and had to return home. However,

among total out-migrants, most of them have emigrated from Comilla District,

followed by Chittagong, Brahmanbaria, Tangail, and Dhaka districts. Present study

area occupies the sixth position (figure, 4.2).


Page 32

Figure:4.2: District-wise Employment (Major Districts) from 2005 to 2010.


At present, largest share of the Bangladeshi migrants stay in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

(KSA, 37 per cent) followed by United Arab Emirates, UAE (26 per cent) and Kuwait

(19 per cent).

Figure: 4.3: Country-wise Overseas Employment (Major Countries) from 1976

to 2010.


Some migrants stay in Europe, Africa, and U.S.A. Most of the migrants are involved

in lower category job such as taxi driving, construction, day labor, cleaner etc. Some

of them do professional job such as, doctor, nurse and white color jobs as official, but

in percentage terms, this is insignificant. According to Siddiqi, in 2008, 32 per cent

skilled workers, 16 per cent semi-skilled, 52 per cent unskilled migrants, but no

professional migrated from Bangladesh and total migrants were 87,5055 in number


Page 33

(Siddiqi, 2009). Though migration has slowed down to KSA, Bangladesh is still

receiving the highest amount of remittance from KSA, around 30 per cent. United

States of America (USA) is the second largest remittance sending country; around 17

per cent remittance comes from there. UAE placed at number three, Bangladesh

receives around 16 per cent remittance from UAE (Siddiqi, 2009). From figure (4.4)

it is noticeable that remittance flow showed upward trend and its contribution to

foreign currency earnings had been going upward, though during last few years, it

showed slightly downward trend. To prevent downward trend, new markets have to be

found out. To maintain balance or competitiveness, Bangladesh should emphasize on

the creation of more skilled and professional migrants now.

Figure: 4.4: Year-Wise Remittance Earned from 1976 to 2010 in million US$.

Source: Bangladesh Bank up to Nov’2010.

Skilled and professional migrant’s income, in aggregation, is much higher than

unskilled labor. So, if unskilled labor migration decreases, the gap should be filled by

sending more skilled and professional workers. Finally, in response to decreasing

migration rate it is needed to find new markets. But it did not happen as expected.


Page 34

Table: 4.1: Remittance Earned: 1976 - 2010.


2. Bangladesh Agriculture at a Glance:

Agriculture is a very significant sector for Bangladesh economy. Contribution of

agriculture in national GDP is 18 per cent (BBS: 2011). Its contribution reduced

because contribution of the industrial sector and service sector contribution increased.

Now service sector’s contribution is 52 per cent and industrial sector contribution is

32 per cent respectively (BBS: 2011). Average land holding size is decreasing due

various reasons such building new homestead, demographic change etc. However,

table (4.2) shows a short picture of Bangladesh agriculture. There are three typical

types of farm holdings in Bangladesh: owner farms, owner cum tenant farms and

tenant farms. The land distribution pattern (by types of tenure) remains more or less

stable with a somewhat relative decrease in owner-cum-tenant farmers as well as the


Page 35

area they operated in 2005. An insignificant percentage of tenant farms (1.39 percent

in 1983/84 and 3.48 percent in 1996) are also observed being operated in an

insignificant percentage of land (0.55 percent in 1983/84 and 1.90 percent in 1996).

This was however slightly higher for owners (1.06 acre) than that for owner-cum-

tenant holdings (1.02 acre) in 2005.

Table 4.2: Percentage Distribution of Farm Holdings and Area (by Type of

Tenure) in Bangladesh

1983-84 1996 2005

Type

s of

tenur

e

% of

farm

holdin

gs

% of

area

Avera

ge

size

(acre)

% of

farm

holdin

gs

% of

area

Avera

ge

size

(acre)

% of

farm

holdin

gs

% of

area

Avera

ge

size

(acre)

Owne

r

62.78 58.76 2.13 61.66 58.51 1.61 69.76 73.32 1.06

Owne

r-

cum-

tenan

ts

35.83 40.69 2.58 34.86 39.59 1.90 23.73 24.08 1.02

Tena

nts

1.39 0.55 0.89 3.48 1.90 0.88 6.51 2.60 0.40

All 100.0

0

(1019

6)

100.0

0

(2317

0)

2.27 100.0

0

(1179

7)

100.0

0

(2020

8)

1.71 100.0

0

(1453

6)

100.0

0

(2362

0)

1.01

Source: Agriculture Census Survey, 2005, BBS

The proportion of area under tenancy is observed to increase from 17 percent of the

operated area in 1983/84 to about 22 per cent in 1996 (Table 1). This change may

occur due to the rapid rural-urban migration along with the increase of absentee land

owners and the abandonment of some farms in favor of taking up rural non-farm

occupations. The extent of share tenancy in rural Bangladesh has declined, giving way

to fixed rent tenancy and medium term leasing arrangements. These institutional

changes are assumed to enable tenants to derive some of the benefits of additional

investment as agriculture inputs.


Page 36

3. Profile of Study area: At a Glance:

This study has been conducted mainly in Jirtoly Union under Begumgonj Upazila in

Noakhali district. The village area is 25 square km. It is one of the most densely

populated villages of the country. Its total approximate population is 45000. Average

population density is about 1800 per square km, where national density is 964 per

square km, and in Noakhali this density is 853 (national population census, 2011, BBS

web site, last visited 09/11/2011). In study area, most of the household earnings are

dependent on remittance. Due to remittance inflow this village seems comparatively

one of the developed villages in this country. Almost every household has electric

connection. Modern technology such as connection of satellite TV channel, internet

service etc. is also available here. Here, most of the village roads are Pacca5. Transport

system is also well developed. This village stands near a national high way (Noakhali

to Laksmipur) and two big Bazaars called Chomuhoni, (one of largest economic

centers of the country) and Chandragonj are near to this village.

Map 1: Village Jirtoly

Jirtoly Most of the houses in the village are Tinshed6 and semi pacca7. Recently, tinshed

houses are replaced by pacca building. Literacy rate is above 90%. It has 14 sub-

5 Pacca is Bengali word; it means the structure which is built by concrete such as cement,

bricks, and stone etc. 6 Tineshed is another Bengali word, it denotes to that structure which built by using Tin. 7 Semi-pacca denotes to that structure or home which is ground’s part is built by concrete

and upper part is built by tin.


Page 37

villages and six wards. Total area is divided in 14 Mouzas8, it has 5 Bazaars, which

function two times every week. It has four big Dighis9, which plays an important role

in agricultural irrigation. It has more or less 43 separate agricultural tracts10, which are

cultivated once in a year. Main productive crop is paddy which is cultivated during

BORO season from November to April/May. The village is highly dependent on other

regions for rice, vegetable etc. It has two high schools and 5 government primary

schools.(Source: Personal interview with Union Chairman).

Determinants of Emigration from Study Area:

The environmental and economic background of Jirtoly tempts villagers look for

alternatives. Not only because of lands remaining under water for around 7 months a

year, but also due to shrinking of land holdings under population pressure. The Jirtoly

experience shows a low landownership situation. On average, households of returnees

in the sample had less than one acre of land before and after migration. Acreage is

much lower than a rural household requires for its subsistence level of income. The

situation has aggravated due to one season crop agriculture. Villagers produce only

one-season paddy per year and production is strictly limited due to environmental

constraints. Flood is another factor that frequently affects. But the effects of it on

decision of migration have not been researched in general, in the context of Jirtoly,

and Bangladesh as a whole. It is a major issue. Villagers cannot rely on local

agriculture to fulfill their needs and are forced to look elsewhere. Thus, recurring

floods, poor land-owner relationship, water logging, and single crop production are

structural forces that have shaped the patterns of contract migration from Jirtoly. Some

other determinants are networking among relatives who live abroad. From this study

it has seen most of the migrants migrated with assistance of their relatives. Some

migrants go with the fame of successful migration history. Households which have

migrant members, most of them are economically well off. Their social status is also

higher. Poverty is not a big problem but has little effects over migration.

However, considering above reality, let’s see what types of changes in terms of

development and non-development, those occurred during last decades. To see the

changes, consider the events sequentially. A migrant takes several times to influence

over so called changes. In most of the cases it requires time for the migrant families to

be stable both economically and socially. After a successful migration, migrant

household attempt to buy new lands, assets, build new homes etc. During field study

this is found that the majority of migrants who migrated before 2000 and stayed longer

8 Mouza is bengali terminology which denotes to the division of land zone in Bangladesh. 9 Locally called Dighi, it means a large pond. 10 Beel is agricultural land which goes under water in rainy season. Sometimes due to low

land or heavy rain, cultivation of land becomes impossible.


Page 38

time did very well. Now, they are investing in purchasing new land, ornaments,

furniture, building new resident and so on.

Section Four

Chapter Five

Findings and Data Analysis:

General Findings:

Before analyzing the relationship between remittance and land ownership & land

relation, it is expedient to describe some relevant findings about migrants’ households

of the study area. The following picture has emerged from the survey of migrants’

households.

1. Profile of the Households:

Among surveyed households the modal group consisted of 5 members (20 per cent)

followed by 4 members (17.3 per cent), 6 members (17.3 per cent), 7 members (13.3

percent), 8 members (6.7 percent), 9 members (10. 7 percent) and 10 and above (10.7

percent). Average size of households is 6.21. Households consisting 4 or 5 members

are nuclear families. The households consisting 7 or more members are either joint or

extended families. Households with larger size, say 7 or above have been observed to

be economically well-off compared to other households as more than one of their

members have availed the opportunity of migration through their blood ties with the

first migrant of the household. On other hand, as they have surplus labor to continue

self- cultivation in agriculture, they can combine remittance income with higher

income from agriculture. They can use this advantage to invest in productive sector.

According to some respondents, migrant members belonging to their family are doing

business in host country. If more than two members of a household are migrants that

household is assured of earning an income which leaves a lot of savings. By using this

saving, some of them start joint-venture business abroad or invest their pulled savings

in different sectors (e.g. purchasing new land, transports, building construction for

renting and business etc.) in the home country.

In terms of education, most of the respondents are still up to primary level (28 per cent)

and some respondents have no formal education yet (26.7 per cent). Ages of this

category are above 40 years. They are older generation of the village. Newly married

women ages are in between 30-40 years. Their education level is either under

secondary (16 per cent) or below higher-secondary (14.7 per cent). This study indicates

that a major portion of girls of the village got married before completing their

education. It also denotes that child marriage is still vibrant in rural area.

2. Types of Structure of the Household:


Page 39

Recently, in most of the cases, pacca buildings are replacing semi-pacca building. It

is commonly seen that, large portion of the households containing migrant members

are intended to build pacca building. The households, which member are staying

abroad for a long time e.g.10-15 years and doing good job such as driving, hotel

servants, official job, business, in most of the cases, their resident’s structure is pacca.

From table (5.1), it is seen that tinshed household’s structure is still dominating in

village. If new trend of constructing Pacca residents continues, pacca building will be

major portion within a few years. This table shows the village Jirtoly is materially well

off. Let’s see, what about migrant numbers of the households.

Table: 5.1: Types of Structure of the Residential House

Types Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative

Percent

Pacca 18 24.0 24.0 24.0

Semi-

pacca

16 21.3 21.3 45.3

Tinshed 39 52.0 52.0 97.3

Bamboo 1 1.3 1.3 98.7

Others 1 1.3 1.3 100.0

Total 75 100.0 100.0

Source: Field Survey.

3. Number of Migrants in the Households, their Age and

Education:

In the study area 61 per cent of the households have only one migrant. The households

which contain more than two migrant members, their economic condition are better

than those which have only one migrant (Table5.1). Majority of the migrants ages

range in between 31-40 years. The migrants around 51-60 years are only 8 per cent.

Whose ages are around 21-30 years consist 28 per cent. The people belong to the ages

range 21-30, they are from the newly migrated portion of the village. Large portion of

this group are the migrants UAE or Oman, because only these two countries of Middle

East are still recruiting workers from Bangladesh.


Page 40

Figure: 5.1: Age-distribution of the Migrants.

Average Age of Migrants

(%)

6.00 / 8.0%

18.00 / 24.0%

30.00 / 40.0%

21.00 / 28.0%

51-60 years

41-50 years

31-40 years

20-30 years


Most the of migrants’ Educational level is under secondary (32 per cent), followed by

secondary 21 per cent and primary 20 percent respectively. The migrants, who passed

H.S.C, consist 16 per cent. It is found that the migrants who passed S.S.C and H.S.C,

their monthly income are comparatively higher than those who are non-educated or up

to primary educated. (Table, 5.2).

Table: 5.2: Level of Education of the Migrants

Frequen

cy

Percent Valid

Percent

Cumulative

Percent

Up to

Primary

15 20.0 20.0 20.0

Under

Secondary

24 32.0 32.0 52.0

Secondary 16 21.3 21.3 73.3

Under higher

Secondary

1 1.3 1.3 74.7

Higher

Secondary

12 16.0 16.0 90.7

Tertiary

(Degree)

4 5.3 5.3 96.0

No

education

3 4.0 4.0 100.0


Page 41

Total 75 100.0 100.0


4. Activity Distribution of the Migrants:

It is commonly seen in the study area that the highest numbers of people have migrated

in 2006 followed by 1997, 1996, 2004 and 2007 respectively. It is seen from the figure

that the migration from this village is not stable. The lowest number of migrants went

in 2008 whereas the highest number of migrant left Bangladesh in this year. It is also

noticeable that migration from this region has decreased in 2008, 2010 and 2011

respectively (figure, 5.2). This trend more or less was consistent during 2000 to 2007.

Figure: 5.2: Number of Years as Migrant Year of migration

Year of migration

2011.000

2009.000

2008.000

2007.000

2006.000

2005.000

2004.000

2003.000

2002.000

2001.000

2000.000

1999.000

1998.000

1997.000

1996.000

1995.000

1994.000

1992.000

1991.000

1990.000

Freq

uenc

y

10

8

6

4

2

01

3

1

6

8

3

6

4

5

3

6

1

7

3

55

1

4

1

2


Migration has decreased because of imposing restriction on migrating of Bangladeshis

to KSA and Kuwait. Still most of the migrants live in KSA and Kuwait. As result,

imposing restriction on migration from Bangladesh to these countries has impacted on

migration from this village. However, large number of the migrants of the study area

work in construction sector (15 per cent) followed by business 13 per cent, business-

servants 12 per cent and daily labor 11 per cent respectively. Those who are doing

business or work as business servants, majority of them are KSA migrants and their

monthly income comparatively better than others. Migrants who are daily labor or

working as construction workers, most of them comes from UAE, Bahrain, Oman,

Malaysia etc. These people’s households’ economic situation is comparatively inferior

in the village.


Page 42

Figure: 5.3: Monthly Earnings of the Migrants Abroad Monthly income of Migrant

5.3%

2.7%

17.3%

24.0% 25.3%

22.7%

2.7%

51- above

41-50 thousands

31-40 thousands

26-30 thousands 21-25 thousands

16-20 thousands

10-15 thousands


In addition, the migrants who come from Europe, Singapore, and South Africa, they

are earning a handsome amount of money. Their monthly income ranges from 50

thousands to above. Majority of them came from well off households. Those who are

migrants of KSA, their monthly average earnings fluctuate from 25 thousands to 35

thousands. The Migrants who have come from UAE and other Middle East countries,

their monthly earnings fluctuate from 15 thousands to 25 thousands (See figure, 5.3).

It is found that some migrants who have taken training before migration and got job in

relevant field; their monthly income also comparatively higher than others except

business man and business servants. (See table, 5.3). Some migrants of the study area

have taken informal training for higher earnings in host country but unfortunately a

large portion of them are not doing job in relevant field. From observation it is found that 57 per cent of migrants took training before migration (See appendix figure: 7.5).

Most of them took technical training on electrics, workshop, and computer, fridge and

air condition (see table 5.3 and 5.4).

Table: 5.3: Types of Training Received by the Migrants


Types of Training Frequency Percentage

Computer 3 4.0

Tailoring 8 10.7

Driving 7 9.3

Workshop Mechanic 6 8.0

Electric 9 12.0


Page 43

Table: 5.4: Types of Activities of the Migrants in Host Countries

Types of Activities Frequency Percent

Daily labor 8 10.7

Workshop 4 5.3

Electrician 1 1.3

Business 10 13.3

Cleaner 5 6.7

Driving 6 8.0

Construction 11 14.7

Mechanic 4 5.3

Tailor 5 6.7

Business Servant 9 12.0

Hotel 7 9.3

Others 4 5.3

Total 75 100.0


Case Study One:

During field work an interesting case has been found which can open new insight for

further study. A household was interviewed which head is Monohor Ali (65). This

household is consisted above 15 members. Monohor Ali’s has eight sons and five

daughters. All daughters are married but no sons did married yet. His four sons are

staying abroad. They are doing business in Kuwait. His elder son went abroad in 1992.

Fridge and A/C 1 1.3

Painting 4 5.3

Pipe fitting 3 4.0

No training 34 45.3

Total 75 100.0


Page 44

He managed VISA from recruiting Agency. After a successful migration he brought

another three brothers of him in Kuwait. The migrants came later joined with him in

business. Their monthly earnings now above 3 lack taka. In recent years they have

become one of the wealthy households in the village. But the history prior to migration

was not pleasant. According to Monohor Ali, “One day I was unable to feed my

children as their necessity, I was a Rickshaw puller and share cropper. My poor income

was not sufficient to feed them”. Tear was floating in his eyes. He said, “I passed a

long time in hunger and starvation but now I am wealthy, I donate in different social

functions and activities. Now I have a lot investment in transports and business. I have

brought 4 acres land and another 9 acres land I have mortgaged in. I have brought some

stores in Town. Now I have no dearth. My other four sons just are waiting to go

abroad”. When he was asked about younger four son’s education who are staying at

home. He replied “they are not interested in achieving higher education”, they argued

that “there are no benefits becoming higher educated, because it is hopeless to desire

to get job by becoming higher educated. Non-educated persons are earning better than

educated persons”. Again he was asked how he mobilized required money for

migration when his elder son Mobarak went abroad. He said “I sold my last piece of

land and borrowed money from neighbors in terms of interest”. He spontaneously said

“I got married my three daughters after migration. Now I am constructing a pacca

building which is three floored and has 16 rooms”. His household’s situation rapidly

improved when his SSC passed third son went abroad. This is successful history of

migration. But there are some sad histories in the Village. Folloing one can be an

example of bad experience of the migration.

Eusuf Ali (48) went abroad in 1998. Before migration he was day labor. He failed to

make a good history of success. He is a migrant of UAE. He is only one migrant in the

village whose family is living in a resident built by Bamboo. He mobilized all money

for migration from lending. In the meantime he fell in severe disease after migration.

Several years he had to survive hand to mouth in abroad. His family is still struggling

to get rid of from lending. His monthly earnins is only 15000 taka. This poor amount

of money is not alone enough to feed family members, let alone repayment of loan. He

has no cultivable land or working age son who can contributes in family earnings. He

has three marriageable daughters. Total members of family are eight. He has two little

sons. He said, “I don’t know when the darkness of my life will go away, when I will

get married my daughters, how I will get rid of my loans, Allah helps me”. Recently

he returned home for three month leave, he wished that he will do better this time

because after returning to host country he will join in a new job. (Source: Researcher’s

own interview with Respondent).

Table (5.5) reveals some traits of migration. In the table (5.5) it has been shown that

the persons who have been staying abroad for a long time as migrants, their monthly

average income (36000 thousands taka) are comparatively higher than other migrants.

Their migration cost also lower than other migrants (84000 thousands taka). It is seen

that the migration cost incessantly increased over the years. It is also shown that


Page 45

income level in recent years has not increased; comparing to increased migration cost.

The amount of Migration cost increased 98 per cent from 1991-94 to 1995-96. It is

again noticeable from the table in recent years migration cost also started going higher

(38% from 2003-06 to 2007-08).

Table 5.5: Duration of Migration, Average Earning and Cost of Migration.

uration as migrants Average Monthly Earnings Average Cost

Migration

Frequency Earnings in tk. In taka Percentage

change

16-19 Years (1991-

1994)

9 36000 84000

12-15 Years (1995-

1998)

19 30000 165000 96%

8-11 Years (1999-

2002)

27 28500 210000 27%

4-7 Years (2003-

2006)

31 30000 218000 4%

0-3 Years (2007-

2010)

17 28000 350000 38%

Total (1991-2010) 103 25100 205400 41.25%


5. Media of Managing VISA and Sources of the Mobilization of

Money:

From Table (5.6), it is seen that, most of the migrants have managed VISA for

migration through relatives outside of households (37.3 per cent) followed by

Recruiting Agency (30 per cent) and Household members respectively (Table, 5.4).


Page 46

Table: 5.6: Medium of Migration

Frequency Percent

Through Recruiting agency 23 30.7

Through Household

Member

14 18.7

Relatives other than

household members

28 37.3

Friends 8 10.7

Others 2 2.7

Total 75 100.0


Those who migrated before 2000, the average cost of migration for them was 1lack

to 1.2 lack taka. It varies from country to country; Migration to KSA, South Africa,

USA and European countries requires comparatively more cost than migration to

other countries of the world (figure 5.5).

Figure: 5.4: Money Spent for Migration Over the Year

How much Money has Required for Migration

Thousand Taka

13.3%

8.0%

13.3%

24.0%

28.0%

13.3%

below 1 lac

3 lac-above

2.51 lac-3 lac

2.1 lac-2.5 lac

1.51 lac- 2 lac

1 lac-1.5


Migrants have mobilized large amount of money from mortgaging out land followed

by remitted money, selling out land and both mortgaging out and selling out land. It is

interesting to see that people do not want sell land for migration without searching all

alternatives. In most of the cases they prefer mortgaging out land in hoping that they

will return their land after successful migration. Those who sold out land, most of their

land holding size is above 2 acres. Small land holding households do not want to sell

out land. Without selling out land they either borrow or take loan from formal and

informal money lenders from locality or outside of locality. They try to string into land


Page 47

at the last moment. It is seen that a substantial amount of money come from own

savings, from observation it is seen that they are either come from Wealthy households

or were in service or job holder before migration. (figure, 5.5).

Figure: 5.5: Sources of Finance for Migration: How did he/she mobilize required money for migration?

12.0%

13.3%

6.7%

16.0%

9.3%

14.7%

6.7%

21.3%

borrowing

own savings

wife's family

remitted money

local money lender.

selling out land

mortgage+sell land.

mortgage out land.

Source: Field Survey

6. Monthly Remittance Received and their Uses:

Average monthly received money of households from migrants varies not only from

country to country but also on the basis of occupation and number of migrants of the

household as well as member of households. However, from the figure (5.7) it is seen

that the most of the households receive 11-15 thousands taka per month. Those

households which receive below 10 thousands taka, their family size either small or

one household’s member is migrants. Most of the respondents said that, their migrants’

members only send required money for monthly consumption.

Figure: 5.7: Monthly Remittance Received by the Households (%):

Average money received by Household.

(per month)

On an average, how much remittance do receive from migrant per month

31-above

21-30 thousands

16-20 thousands

11-15 thousands

6-10 thousands

1-5 thousands

Freq

uenc

y

30

20

10

0 3

8

14

24

21

5


Surplus money is saved by their migrants’ members either for repayment of debt or

investment. Almost 100 per cent respondents said that their most of the remitted money

is used for food consumption. It varies from 40 per cent to 70 percent based on family

size. Next important field of consumption is non-food consumption such as for


Page 48

medicine, doctor cost; mobile cost, etc. (see Appendix, figure: 7.7). In compare to

national expenditure scenario of migrants (table: 5.5) it seems, in variation of some

respect, findings almost same. It is interesting to see that expenditure for education is

not more than 10 per cent for most of the households, where it is said that remitted

money induces for increasing expenditure on education. It might be the fact behind

showing reluctant to education that in most of the cases, school going people does not

get incentives for taking education. During field work it is frequently heard from young

generation, they are waiting just for migration; they said becoming formal educated

will not repute their fate. If they gained degree, they will not find job in Bangladesh.

It is interesting to hear that, some of them consider spending time for education as

wasting of time. However, those migrants who migrated by borrowing, they have to

spend a substantial amount of money for interest payment. During field work, any

formal money lenders have not been found. Women plays key role in lending money

informally. Women do it invisibly, because it is seen as stigma and bad practice in the

village. However, some remitted money is used for home construction, purchasing

luxury goods such as gold, ornament, fridge, mobile etc. (appendix figure, 7.4, 7.5, 7.6

etc.).

7. Investment of Remittance money:

Table (5.6) shows that most of migrants’ households have no investment (41 per cent)

in any sectors which can bring hard money. Those households who have investment,

they have invested mostly in Bank savings and buying new land. Interestingly, the

migrant household who can afford to buy land, she prefers to buy land in road sides or

that of proper area, so that, in future, she can build new home and use that home as

source of income by renting. Only 1.3 per cent of households have invested in

mortgaging in land. That means remittance has little impact on changing land

ownership in terms of mortgaging in and mortgaging out land in the studied area. But

migration has impact substantially. A substantial amount of money is also invested in

migration of other household members. From the table (5.6) it is seen that 41 per cent

of households have no investment. They may come from that group of households

which have only one migrant member or new migrant who still spending most of the

money in debt payment or their income is very poor because of doing poor category

work such as day labor, cleaner and son on in host country


Page 49

Table: 5.7: Sector-wise Investment of Remitted Money

Frequency Valid Percent

In business 7 9.3 9.3

In buying new land 12 16.0 16.0

In bank savings 18 24.0 24.0

In mortgaging in land 1 1.3 1.3

In migration of other

household members

6 8.0 8.0

no investment 31 41.3 41.3

Total 75 100.0 100.0


However, most of the literature related to remittance and its impact on socio-economic

fabric of society found that there is strong positive as well as negative relation between

remittance and land holding & land relation. Positive impact is in the sense that after

a successful migration, remittance brings opportunity for some households to purchase

new farm or agricultural land. Negative impact is in the sense that before migration,

some household sale their beloved land to mobilize money. As result, land ownership

changes for the first time during migration. If for any reason, migration journey

become failure, that households might not got back their land.


Page 50

Chapter Six

Impact on Land Holding:

In Bangladesh, majority of migrants are generated from the rural areas and poor

communities. Remittances allow the poor people to increase the expenditure on both

durable and non-durable goods. Whenever people go abroad, the major portion of their

migration costs come from the sale or mortgage out of their agricultural land. The

critical reasoning of utilization of remittances in Bangladesh shows that, 11.24 percent

of total remittances are used for purchasing of agriculture land. In utilizing the money

coming as remittance, priority is given to release the mortgaged land or to buy

agricultural land.

1. Types of Land ownership and Amount of Land:

It has found from the study area that, most of the households are not willing to sell out

their land for migration. Those who have land above 1.5 acres prefer to mortgage out

land rather than selling out it. It has been seen that, people want to string into land till

the last moment. Without any critical necessity, they don’t even mortgage out land let

alone to sale out it. Before going to mortgage out or sell out land, they seek money

from local money lenders, from relative, from friends; as many sources as they can. If

they fail then they interfere into the land.

Figure: 6.1 &6.2: Changes of Land ownership (Permanent) before and after

Migration Ownership before migration (permanent)

Ownership before migration (permanent)

no land

3.1-above

2.1-2.5 acre

1.6-2 acre

1.1-1.5 acre

0.5-1 acre

below 0.5 acre

Fre

qu

en

cy

30

20

10

0

24

45

2

1111

18

Current ownership of land ( permanent)

Current ownership of land ( permanent)

no land

3.1-above

2.6-3 acre

2.1-2.5 acre

1.6-2 acre

1.1-1.5 acre

0.5-1 acre

below 0.5 acre

Fre

qu

en

cy

30

20

10

0

17

433

1010

27



Page 51

The households which have no land, they mobilize maximum portion of money for

migration from local money lenders in response of interest rate. Interest rate, for most

of the cases, remains in between 5 to 10 percent (appendix, table: 7.5). As a result,

they have to spend a substantial amount of their earnings in paying interest. They need

several years to pay out the debt completely and to become economically stable. From

figure (6.1&6.2), it is seen that, the land ownership of migrants’ household has

changed in rural area. Before migration, 24 per cent of households were no land, but

after migration it reduced to 17 per cent. It also noticeable from the figure that, the

number of households which land ownership is below one acre, their percentage has

increased. It was 18 per cent before migration and reached to 27 per cent after

migration. It means those household which had no land before migration they have

purchased some land after successful migration. Land ownership range in between 2.1

acres to 3 acres has reduced comparatively before and after migration. It reduced from

5 per cent to 1 percent. It is noticeable that households which have land above 3 acres

they are only 4 per cent and they are more or less stable before and after migration. In

the village, this portion of households is wealthy and can mobilize money from their

own savings and remittance without selling land. Furthermore, it is found from figure

(6.3&6.4) that land ownership change in terms of mortgage in not significantly found

in study area. Among 75 households 73 per cent of houses were no land in terms of

mortgage in before migration and it reduced to 64 per cent after migration, that means

household invest some money in mortgaging in land bur this type of land ownership

do not sustain for a longer time. It changes very frequently; as a result you will not

find any significant change for an extended time rather a particular time. So,

generalized prediction is not possible in terms of changing land ownership in mortgage

in or out.


Page 52

Figure 6.3&6.4: Land ownership (mortgaged in) before and After Migration Ownership before migration (mortgaged)

Ownership before migration (mortgaged)

no land3.1-abovebelow 0.5 acre

Fre

qu

en

cy

80

60

40

20

0

73

Current ownership of land (mortgaged)

Current ownership of land (mortgaged)

no land

3.1-above

1.1-1.5 acre

0.5-1 acre

below 0,5 acreF

req

ue

ncy

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

64

4


2. Prices of Land Market:

It is observed that the land prices have increased very rapidly in study area. Because

of variation in years of migration land prices seem different. Land prices are seen 1 to

5 thousands is 26 per cent during 1990-1995. Prices rose to 6 to 10 thousands during

1996-2000 and it reached to 11 to 15 thousands in 2001 to 2005. During 2006, 2007,

2008, 2009 and 2010 land prices increased very rapidly. It reached to 21 thousands to

above 30 thousands. Prices increased 69 percent in 2010 in respect of 2001. In 2010

land prices were found 31 to 35 thousands taka per decimal. Land prices vary

according its standing and ecological importance. Land prices increase for various

reasons such as poor land-man relationship, high competition in land market etc. But,

recently, remittance is playing vital role in increasing land. Due to poor land-man

relationship and increased migrants households’ income, there has risen more demand

for land than supply. As a consequence, heavy competition indulges in increasing land

prices. The land which is closed to road or in proper places or besides any one resident,

it prices were above forty thousand per acre in 2010 according to its importance to

buyer.


Page 53

Case Study Two

Optimistic about positive impact of migration claim that migration of households

members and their sent remittance brings greater opportunity for migrants households

in terms of health facility, education, luxury good etc. after a successful journey. But it

is unfortunate to say that in the study area this impact was found almost absent in study

area. In addition, in rural area it is seen that most of the migrants’ households which

were no land before migration, they have purchased land for building new resident.

Most of the young people of the study area, particularly male people, seem very much

reluctant to education. Furthermore, some negative impacts of migration and remittance

will be found if intensive study carried out in study area, such as moral degradation of

young members of households. Availability of satellite, mobile phone and lack of

proper take care and monitoring them plays vital role for moral degradation. Divorce

rate has increased in rural area due to extra marital love and misbelieve between

husband and wife. Anarchic situation in the households also impact on behavior and

psychology of younger members of household.

Agricultural Land is Decreasing Rapidly in Rural Area

Picture 1: Agricultural land is being elevated through earth filling to build new

homestead.

In the study area, agricultural lands are turning into new homestead in an alarming rate

(picture 1). Maximum migrant households purchase new land to build new homestead.

Those who have built new home in agricultural land contain a member who stays

abroad. Those who are living in older one, among them 61 per cent said they will build

new home in agricultural land. Already 36 per cent is living in home which is built in

agricultural land (figure 6.5). So, this is highly treat to agricultural land and as well as


Page 54

an alarm for higher authority to become conscious on implementing rules and regulation

related to building new settlement in agricultural land. It is seen in the study area that a

lot of new home has been built in agricultural land and some houses are in under

construction.

Figure 6.5: Plan of Households to Build New homestead in Agricultural Land

38.7%

61.3%

No

Yes


Local agricultural officer Abbas Uddin informed that at least 25 new homestead has

been built in fresh agricultural land in the village during last ten years. He said that,

there were 25 acres land in Uttar Pather11, almost 10 acres has already turned into new

homestead. Further he informed that another Beel named Boli Pather12 was consisted

with 75 acres of agricultural land. Now, Almost 20 acres of this land zone have already

turned into new homestead. To verify the estimated statistics, local settlement officer at

Upazila level was asked to give update information about how many new homes have

been built in 158 no. jirtoly mouza13 and 173 no. Mohabbatpur mouza, they failed to

give update information. It was asked to Mr. Abbas Uddin that, What types affect

occurred in agriculture due to building a new home in fresh agricultural land? He said

that, it not only reduced agricultural production, but also, reduced fertility of land. He

said, when a new home is built, it need extra soil to fill the land. The soil is lift out from

others agricultural land, through this way surface soil goes out from agricultural land to

homestead. As a result, fertility of land degrades.

Due dissimilarity of land, the productivity of upper land compare to lower land

decreases in one hand because farmers cannot irrigate on the land properly and apply

fertilizer. Lower land absorbs the fertility of upper land. On the other hand, Farmers

cannot cultivate land within a same time because of water stagnant in lower land.

Through this way productivity of land decreases gradually. Land fertility is decreasing

through another way. Many bricks field have been established in response to fill the

demand of rising pacca building. These brick fields are absorbing valuable soil from

11 Local language, it indicates to that land which is situated northern part of the residential

area.

12 Boli pathar, is land area, which was named from some name BOLI (brave). 13 Mouza is a Bengali word which means a specific land zone.


Page 55

agricultural land. When new resident is built in new homestead it put pressure on the

land which is surrounded it (picture 2). Sometimes new resident needs new pond, which

grasp some agricultural land. Owner of the land cannot cultivate the land properly due

to homestead wastage in their land. The shadow of trees of the household’s reduces

productivity of land also. Not only has it, households’ domestic animals sometimes

damaged the crop of the land. So, multiple negative impacts occurred on agricultural

land due to building new homestead in agricultural land.

Figure: 6.6: Percentage of Households Shifting Residence Has household changed location of living?

64.0%

36.0%

No

Yes


Abbas Uddin told that, if an effective rules and regulation do not put forward

immediately to prevent building new homestead on agricultural land, within a few years

maximum agricultural land will be turned into homestead. This scenario really pathetic

in study area. It almost has seen true from personal observation for every similar

Pather14 in Begumgonj Upazila. Some people unreasonably are building new homes in

agricultural land. They could build new residential home in older one; some of them do

it to show higher status in society. So, government should aware to protect agricultural

land. Existing rules and regulation about new settlement should be strictly imposed or

new rules should be incorporated if needed. Awareness programs should be arranged to

inspire people to build home in existing non-agricultural land. Following pictures

represent the reality of agricultural land.

Picture 2: New home occupying agricultural land.

14 Pathar is a local terminology denoting large stretch of cultivable land.


Page 56

Impact on Land Relation:

Analysis of the impact of foreign remittance on agrarian or production relation is very

difficult. It changes frequently according time and space as well as along with

geographic situation changes. So, no general conclusion is possible in analyzing the

relation between remittance and land. However, following results have been found in

the study area during field work.

Cultivation of Land:

Agricultural land is comparatively scarce in study area than any other parts of the

country. Land-man relation or proportion of land in terms of households is less than

one acre. Most of the land is in ownership of few people. However, in terms of land

cultivation in the study area, 33 per cent of migrants’ households do not cultivate their

owned land and 16 percent has no land. Though 50 percent of households have said

that they cultivate their land, it does not represent the real fact (Figure 6.12).

Figure 6.7: Percentage of Land cultivation by Operation Do you cultivate your land?

33.3%

50.7%

16.0%

No

Yes

Source:

Field Survey.

Some households do not cultivate their total land; a portion of land is cultivated by

others as share cropping. Those households which do not cultivate their land, 30

percent of their land is in sharecropping and 13 percent of the land is in mortgaged out.

Only 1.3 per cent households has land both in mortgaged out and in share cropping in

the study area. It is noticeable that 54 per cent of households are in “others”. It

represents that household which has no land in share cropping, mortgaged out or in

both. ‘Others’ also includes those households, who have no land and who cultivate

their total land (figure 6.8).


Page 57

Figure 6.8: Current Status of Land Current status of land if does not cultivad by own

54.7%

1.3%

13.3%

30.7%

others

share cropping+mortg

Mortgagedout

in share cropping


Among selected households those who do not cultivate their land, 11.8 per cent of

them said that they do not cultivate their land because of lack of working age people

in households and 14.1 per cent said that they do not cultivate because of uncertainty

in availability of daily labors. Only 2.4 per cent said, they do not cultivate their land

due to lack of care taker.

Figure: 6.9: Reasons of non-operation of agricultural land

I f l a nd d o e s no t c u l t i va t e d b y o w n t he n w hy ?

6 2 . 4 %

2 . 4 %

7 . 1 %

2 . 4 %

1 4 . 1 %

1 1 . 8 %

n o t a p p l i c a b l e

p r o d u c t i o n c o s t i s h

l a c k o f c a r e t a k e r

l a c k o f D a i l y l a b o r

l a c k o f wo r k i n g a g e


Those households which cultivate land in the absence of male members, in those

households’ female members lead agricultural farming and they are actively involved

in the whole process. They manage the activities of cultivation in absence of male

members of household. Figure (6.9) represents the picture more precisely. In study

area most of the respondents were female; among them above 60 per cent said that

they are care taker of the whole process of cultivation especially in expenditure of

agricultural farming. It is noticeable 7.1 per cent said that they do not cultivate their

land because of higher cultivation cost. The gain from agriculture is lower than the

cost required for cultivation. They said that production cost has increased due to

dependency in hired labor, irrigation, fertilizer. Diesel and electricity prices are

increasing day by day which has also multiple effects on production.


Page 58

Figure 6.10: Percentage of Hired Labor Outside of Locality Amount of labor supply ( hired, outside of locality)

34.7%

22.7% 21.3%

5.3%

6.7%

4.0%

Missing

61%80% 51%-60%

41%-50%

31%-40%

Amount of labor supply ( hired, outside of locality)

34.7%

22.7% 21.3%

5.3%

6.7%

4.0%

Missing

61%80% 51%-60%

41%-50%

31%-40%


Figure (6.10) represents that most of the households are dependent on hired labor that

comes out of own locality (61%-80%). It means that land cultivation in study area is

highly dependent on hired labor. Moreover, 17.3 percent of households are completely

dependent on hired labor for cultivation. Only 5.3 percent do cultivation by using only

their own household’s labor. In addition, 44 per cent respondents said that their

agricultural farming is done by using both hired labor (from locality and outside of

locality) and household’s labor. It has to be noted that, the contribution of households’

labor vary in between 10 per cent to 15 per cent in most of the cases, only in a few

cases it exceed, if household land holding size is very few, but working age members

of households are abundant.

Figure 6.11: Types of Agricultural Labor

What is the source of Agricultural labor?

33.3%

44.0%

17.3%

5.3%

not applicable

Hired & family membe

Hired

Family member

What is the source of Agricultural labor?

33.3%

44.0%

17.3%

5.3%

not applicable

Hired & family membe

Hired

Family member


It varies if households’ land ownership is 0.5 acre to less than 1 acre. They try to

cultivate their land by exploiting more labor forces from own household and their

productivity of land also higher than the households that cultivate land by hired labor.

Wealthy households whose agricultural land is higher than 1 acre, they are dependent

on more hired labor in compare to amount of land ownership.


Page 59

Figure 6.12: Supervision of Farming Activities Who is the care taker of the agricultural farming.

5.3%

1.3%

4.0%

68.0%

21.3%

Son (migrant)

Father (migrant)

wife (respondent)

own (respondent)


Situation of Share Cropping:

In study area it is found that most of the households (both migrants and non-migrants)

want to involve in agricultural farming. They want to maintain relation to land by any

means. They consider it as the safest source of food supply. It is found, those who has

no land, they try to involve in production through sharecropping. Among respondents,

36 per cent are involved in share cropping. Some of the households have no land, some

have few, but they involved in share cropping for getting more crops. Though the

figure (6.13) discloses that 64 per cent of households do not involved in share

cropping, some of them are seeking land for sharecropping but due to scarcity of land

there are high competition for getting land as sharecropping. Moreover, land owners

prefer to give their land in share cropping to relatives or favored one. Land cultivation

in share cropping is increasing. To find this change a time series study can be carried

out. From figure (6.14), it is noticeable that 16 per cent of migrants were involved in

agricultural farming before migration. It does not represent the real picture of reality,

in rural area of Bangladesh, working age people involved in multiple works.

6.13: Households Involved in Share Cropping Is household involved in Share cropping

64.0%

36.0%

No

Yes


Those who were daily labor (13 per cent), or job holders (29 per cent) or studied (18

per cent) or did business (14 per cent), most of them were also involved in agricultural


Page 60

farming. That means net withdrawal of agricultural labor due to migration is higher

than the figure represents.

Figure 6.14: Occupation of Migrants before Migration What did migrant do before migration?1.3%

1.3%

13.3%

18.7%

29.3%

14.7%

16.0%

5.3%Driving

Daily labor

Study

Job

Business

Agricultural Farming


Table 6: Contribution of Agriculture in Household’s Income.

Frequency Contribution (%)

59 13%

No Contribution 16 21%

Total 75

From the table (6) it is seen that 59 of the households has income contribution from

agriculture. Here, income from agriculture denotes to the income from cultivable land,

cattle raising, homestead cultivation etc. Agriculture contributes 13 per cent in

households’ income. Among total households 16 of them said they are completely

dependent on remittance earnings. They are 21 per cent among the respondents.

Finally, it was asked to farmers that which type seeds they prefer to cultivate in their

land. Almost 100 percent respondents said, they prefer cultivating High Yielding

Variety (HYV) than domestic seeds because the productivity of HYV is higher than

traditional seeds. They said that, they cultivated traditional seeds few years ago. But

in recent years, traditional seeds cultivation has thrown away from cultivation. Now

most of the land is cultivated by HYV seeds. Though the productivity of HYV is higher

than the traditional seeds but there has a great debate about its compatibility and

sustainability. People cannot collect mother seeds from HYV, every year they have to

purchase new seeds from market. Experts said that frequent cultivation of same seeds

on same land, reduces fertility of land. HYV seeds need more irrigation and chemical

fertilizer for greater production. In addition, HYV plants are more vulnerable for

harmful insecticides attack. As a result, more chemical has to use in land. Through this

process, land fertility decrease. In addition, the most alarming matter is that our

agricultural farming has become dependent for seeds. If any incidence occurs in seeds

supply then what would happen to our agricultural production, it is the time to think.

Without modifying traditional seeds, dependency for farming seeds on others outside


Page 61

of the country cannot be reduced. Diversified crop cultivation has to be introduced. It

is good for us that our cultivation pattern has been transforming to various productions

which were mostly concentrated on only rice cultivation.


Page 62

Chapter Seven

Conclusion:

Though there is a huge debate among experts regarding the sustainability of migration

in terms of economic and social development, the importance of out migration cannot

be denied at present situation of Bangladesh. As a labor abundant country, a huge

working age people is unemployed or under employed in Bangladesh. So, opportunity

of migration is seen as boon for Bangladesh economy for finding job space for lots of

working age people. Contribution of remittance money sent by migrants in national

GDP is going higher and higher and this trend will continue next few years. According

to World Bank, the current global economic downturn has slowed the growth of new

migrants going abroad but the flow of remittances to Bangladesh remains remarkably

resilient (World Bank 2009) and there is a clear expectation that remittances will

remain important for Bangladeshis in the years ahead.

This study tried to find out the size of migrants’ households and their socio-economic

condition in general. Some general information has been taken to see households’

status rigorously. Most of the households’ home are tinshed structured. Recently,

capable households’ prefer to spend money in building pacca resident rather than

spending on Tinshed or semi-pacca building. It is found that some migrants gained

training in one sector but serving in other sectors. If they got job in relevant sector of

their training, they could earn more money than present earnings. In study area, most

of the migrants managed VISA trough relatives. Some of them managed it from

recruiting agency. Managing Migration VISA from recruiting agency need higher cost

compared to other sectors such as from relatives, from family members and friends.

Cost of migration was comparatively lower before 2000 but it increased considerably

in post-2000 period. To mobilize required money for migration, majority of migrants

mortgaged out land rather than sold out. So, land ownership has changed for most of

the cases temporarily. Most of the migrants come from Middle East and majority of

them are unskilled. Average earnings of migrants vary in between 20 thousands to 25

thousands on the basis of host country, living period and occupation etc. The migrants

who are living in host country for a long time; their monthly income is comparatively

higher than the migrants’ who are living for shorter time. In consequences, their

households’ economic condition is also comparatively well off for most of the cases

in rural area. In the study area, migrants’ households spend most of their earnings on

food consumption and medicine respectively. A substantial amount of earnings are

also spent in debt payment. Most of the households have no other source of income

without earnings from remittance. This portion of households’ is more vulnerable in

terms economic crisis if any unexpected incidence occurs to their migrant member.

In terms of land ownership, majority of the households have more or less permanent

land ownership, but most of the land still in hand of few households. The holding size


Page 63

of land for rich households is above 4 acre or higher. They are comparatively in better

positions to increase their land ownership. They got more chance as well to increase

their holdings if member of their household stays abroad and do well. Rich households

have various types of income sources except remittance e.g. from agriculture, job,

business and so on. In terms of production relation, it is found that most of the

households want to maintain agricultural farming by any means. They leave cultivation

when there is no way for cultivation. Some of them cultivate land as supplementary of

household’s food supply.

Share cropping is increasing in rural area. Large farm holders are leaving farming in

alarming rate because of uncertainty and unavailability of agricultural labor in study

area. The absence of male members of the migrants’ households is also liable for

increasing sharecropping. Cash rent and lease out of land are completely absent in

study area. Agriculture economist said that sharecropping reduces efficient use of

agricultural land due to lack of intensive cultivation of farm land by sharecropper.

Sharecropper get less incentives to give extra labor and inputs for production, because

they know giving extra labor will bring half return for them. At present, due to scarcity

of agricultural land for sharecropping, it seems it does not reduce the production in

study area. Share cropper also try to produce more crops in fear of losing cropping

opportunity in next year, but when land for sharecropping will be more than

sharecroppers willing to cultivate then production might fell down. Where agricultural

land is abundant and sharecropping is higher, in that regions production level might

fall down because lack of intensive cultivation by share croppers. In economics it is

called efficiency loss. Because of massive cultivation of HYV seeds in majority of

land in response to rising demand of food supply, agricultural sector has become

dependent on exported seeds. It indicates that our agricultural sector has become

almost vulnerable in terms of supply of seeds.


Page 64

Section Five

Appendix:

Table and Figure of Findings

Table: 7.1: Members of Household Frequency Percent Valid Percent

Valid 2 member 1 1.3 1.3

3 member 2 2.7 2.7

4 member 13 17.3 17.3

5 member 15 20.0 20.0

6 member 13 17.3 17.3

7 member 10 13.3 13.3

8 member 5 6.7 6.7

9 member 8 10.7 10.7

10 and above member 8 10.7 10.7

Total 75 100.0 100.0


Figure: 7.1: Education Level of Household Head.

Education Level of Household head

(%)

26.7%

8.0%

6.7%

14.7%

16.0%

28.0%

no education

Tertiary

Higher secondary

Secondary

Under secondary

Primary



Page 65

Figure: 7.2: Types of Structure of the Residential House. Types of Structure of the residential house

1.33 / 1.3%

1.33 / 1.3%

52.00 / 52.0%

21.33 / 21.3%

24.00 / 24.0%

Others

Bamboo

Tinshed

Semi pacca

Pacca


Table: 7.2: Number of Migrants of the household

Frequency Percent Valid Percent

1 member 46 61.3 61.3

2 member 19 25.3 25.3

3 member 6 8.0 8.0

4 member 1 1.3 1.3

no migrant at

present

3 4.0 4.0

Total 75 100.0 100.0

Source: Researcher’s own Calculation.

Figure: 7.3: Numbers of Migrants of the Household. Number of Migrants of the household

3.00 / 4.0%

1.00 / 1.3%

6.00 / 8.0%

19.00 / 25.3%

46.00 / 61.3%

no migrant (Present)

4 member

3 member

2 member

1 member



Page 66

Table: 7.3: Age Distribution of Migrants.


Valid 20-30

years

21 28.0 28.0

31-40

years

30 40.0 40.0

41-50

years

18 24.0 24.0

51-60

years

6 8.0 8.0

Total 75 100.0 100.0


Figure: 7.4: Education level of Migrants

Education level of Migrant

3.00 / 4.0%

4.00 / 5.3%

12.00 / 16.0%

1.00 / 1.3%

16.00 / 21.3% 24.00 / 32.0%

15.00 / 20.0%

no education

tertiary

higher secondary

under higher seconda

secondary under secondary

primary


Figure: 7.5: Types of Training.

Types of Training

45.3%

4.0%

5.3%

1.3%

12.0%

8.0%

9.3%

10.7%

4.0%

No training

pipe fitting

painting

fridge and A/C

Electric

Workshop

Driving

Tailoring

computer



Page 67

Figure, 7.6: Media of Migration VISA. How did he/ she Manage VISA for Migration

2.7%

10.7%

37.3%

18.7%

30.7%

Others

Through Friends

From relatives

Through Household Me

Through Recruiting a


Figure: 7.7: Percentage of Expenditure (Non-food). Percentage of expenditure ( Non-food)

1.3%

1.3%

9.3%

8.0%

49.3%

16.0%

13.3%

1.3%

no cost

46%-50%

26%-30%

21%-25%

16%-20%

11%-15%

5%-10%

below 5%


Figure: 7.8: Percentage of Expenditure (Debt Payment) Percentage of expenditure ( Debt payment)

no cost

31%-35%

26%-30%

16%-20%

11%-15%

5%-10%

below 5%



Page 68

Table: 7.4: Percentage of expenditure (Education).


Valid below 5% 28 37.3 37.3

5%-10% 21 28.0 28.0

11%-15% 4 5.3 5.3

16%-20% 3 4.0 4.0

21%-25% 1 1.3 1.3

26%-30% 3 4.0 4.0

no cost 15 20.0 20.0

Total 75 100.0 100.0


Figure: 7.9: Sectors of Remittance Investment. In which sector remittance money is mostly invested?

In which sector remittance money is mostly invested?

no investment

In migration of othe

In mortgaging in lan

In bank savings

In buying new land

In business

Perce

nt

50

40

30

20

10

0


Figure: 7.10: Percentage of Household income (Agriculture). Percentage of contribution (agriculture)

90.7%

5.3%

4.0%

none

10%-20%

below 10%



Page 69

Figure: 7.11. Does household has other source of income

69.3%

30.7%

no

yes


Table: 7.5: Rates of interest of debt


5%-10% 27 36.0 81.8

11%-15% 6 8.0 18.2

Total 33 44.0 100.0

Missing System 42 56.0

Total 75 100.0


Map: 3 Begumgonj Upazila

Begumgonj Upazila.


Page 70

Questionnaire

Date: …………………..

Serial No: ………………

Research Topic

Impact of Foreign Remittance on Landholding and Land Relations

in Rural Bangladesh: A Case Study from Village Jirtoly in the

District of Noakhali.

[N. B. The data collected here will be used only for present study and all kinds of

confidentialities of information will be kept.]

Name of Surveyor:…………………………………………………….

Address: ……………………………………………………………………………………

Personal Information ( Respondent)

Name of Household Head: ….………………………… Mob: ………………………….

Father/Husband:……………………………………………………………………………

Village: …………………………………… Bari: ………………………….......................

Upazilla:…………………………………………………………………………………….

Zilla:…………………………………………………………………………………………

Religion:…………………………………………………………………………………….


Page 71

Household’s General Information:

1.1. Members of Household:

Name Relation

with

Household

head

Age Education

Level

Occupation Sex

Male Femal

e

Code:

Members of household 2 Member=1, 3 Members=2, 4 Members=3,

5 Members=4, 4= 6 Members=5, 7

Members=6, 8 Members=7, 9 Members=8,

10 & Above=9.

Sex

Male=1 Female=2

Occupation Agricultural labor=1, Daily labor=2,

Service=3, Business=4, Student=5,

Housewife=6, Returned migrant=7, Job=8,

Others=9.

Education Primary=1, Under secondary=2,

Secondary=3, Under higher secondary=4,

Higher secondary=5, Tertiary=6, No

Education=7.

Age 1-10 Years=1, 11-20 Years=2, 21-

30Years=3, 31-40 Years=4, 41- 50=5

51-Above=6

1.2. Type of structure of the residential house.

Answer: Pacca/ Semi Pacca/ Tinshed/ Bamboo/ Thatch/Others

Code: Pacca=1, Semi pacca=2, Tinshed=3, Bamboo=4, Thatch=5, Others=6

1.3. Have the residential house built after Migration

Answer: Yes/ No

1.4. When the residential house was built?

Answer: …………………………………

1.5. How many members of your

household stay abroad?

Answer: 1/2/3/4/5/

Code: Yes=1, No=2

1=1 Member, 2=2 Members, 3=3 Members,

4=4 Members, 5=5 Members, 6=6 Members.


Page 72

1.6. General information about migrant member of the household.

Code:

Age 20-30 years=1, 31-40 years=2, 41-50 years=3

51-60 years=4, 60-above=5.

Relationship with

household head

1=Husband, 2=Son, 3=Father, 4=Brother, 5=Own, 6=Others.

Education Primary=1, Under secondary=2,Secondary=3, Under Higher

Secondary=4,Higher Secondary=5

Tertiary=6, No Education=7.

Occupation Daily labor=1, Business=2, Cleaner=3, Driving=4,

Construction=5, Mechanic=6, Tailoring=7, Business

Servant=8, Hotel=9, Electric=10, Workshop=11,

Others=12.

Name of the host country KSA=1, UAE=2, Bahrain=3, Kuwait=4, Oman=5,

Malaysia=6, Katter=7, Singapore=8, U.S.A=9, Europe=10,

Others=11.

1.7. How did he/she manage visa for migration?

Answer:

Media of migration Code

a. Through recruiting agency A=1

b. Through household member B=2

c. Buying VISA from relatives C=3

d. Through friends D=4

Name Age Relationship

with household

head

Educational

level

Occupation Name of

Host

Country

Year of

Migration


Page 73

e. Others (please mention) F=5

1.8. How much cost has required for migration?

Answer: ……………………………………………………… (Thousands taka)

Code:

1.9. Why did he/she migrate?

Answer:

1. Lack of job opportunity in home

country.

2. For higher earnings.

3. Hoping for a better living.

4. Scarcity of agricultural land for farming.

5. Lack of required degree for finding job.

6. For internal conflict

7. Others (please mention) ……………………………………………………………

1.10. Did migrant(s) take any training before migration?

Answer: Yes/No

1.11. If, yes then the types of training.

Name of Migrants Types of

training

Monthly income (thousands taka)

Code: Types of Training-

Computer=1, Tailoring=2, Driving=3, Workshop=4, Electric=5, Fridge & A/C=6,

Painting=7, Pipe Fitting=8, Others=9.

Code: Monthly Income (Thousand)-

Below 1 lac=1, 1-1.5 lac=2, 1.51-2 lac=3, 2.1-2.5 lac=4, 2.51 lac-3 lac=5, 3.1-Above=6

Code: A=1, b=2, c=3, d=4, e=5, f=6, g=7

Code: Yes=1, No=2


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10-15=1, 16-20=2, 21-25=3, 26-30=4, 31-35=5, 36-40=6, 41-45=7, 46-50=8, 51-Above=9

1.12. On an average, how much remittance do you receive from migrant(s) per month?

Answer :………………………………………( thousands taka).

Code: Monthly Received Money (thousand)-

1-5=1, 6-10=2, 11-15=3, 16-20=4, 21-25=5, 26-30=6, 30-Above=7

1.13. Has household has any borrowing in purpose of Migration?

Answer: Yes/ No

1.14. If yes, then how much Money?

Answer: ……………………………………… ( thousand taka).

Code: Amount of borrowing (thousand).

Below 50=1, 51-1 lackh=2, 1.1 lac-1.5 lackh=3, 1.6 lac-2 lackh=4, 2.1 lack-2.5

lackh=5, 2.6-3 lackh=6, 3.1-4 lackh=7, 4 lackh- Above=8.

1.15. Has household overcome from borrowing?

Answer: Yes/ No

1.16. If no, then how much Money?

Answer: ……………………………………………......

Code: Amount of borrowing:

Below 50=1, 51-1 lac=2, 1.1 lac-1.5 lac=3, 1.6 lac-2 lac=4, 2.1 lac-2.5 lac=5, 2.6-3

lac=6, 3.1-4 lac=7, 4 lac- Above=8.

1.17. How did he/she mobilize required maximum money for migration?

Answer:

Source of Migration

money

Amount Current status Terms and conditions When

Paid/go

t back

Not

paid/

not got

back

Applicab

le

Not

applicable

Code: Yes=1, No=2

Code: Yes=1, No=2


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a.By borrowing

b. By mortgaging out

land

c. Selling out land

d.From local money

lenders

e. From remitted

money

f. From wife’s family

g.From own savings

h.Borrowing from

relatives.

I.From Selling assets

J.Others

Code:

Source of Migration money a=1, b=2, c=3, d=4, e=5, f=6, g=7, h=8, i=9, j=10

Amount of Money Below 50=1, 51-1 lac=2, 1.1 lac-1.5 lac=3, 1.6 lac-2 lac=4, 2.1 lac

2.1lac=5, 2.6-3 lac=6, 3.1-4 lac=7, 4 lac- Above=8.

Current status Paid=1, Not paid=2, Partial paid=3.

Terms & condition: Applicable=1, Not Applicable=2.

Rate of Interest: 5%-10%=1, 11%-15%=2, 16%-20%=3.

1.19. What is the relation with the providers of finance?

Answer:

1. Family members (blood

related)

2. Relatives

3. Friends

4. Nabors

5. None

Code: a=1, b=2, c=3, d=4, e=5.


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Impact on Land Holdings:

2.1. How much land is in the ownership of household?

Types of ownership

Permanent

Mortgaged

No land

Before Migration

(Amount in acres)

Current

(Amount in acres).

Types of Ownership Permanent Mortgaged in Permanent Mortgaged in

Amount

Code:

Amount of Land Above 2 acres= 1, Above1.2 acres=2, Under 1 acres=3,

No land=4

Types of Ownership Permanent=1, Mortgaged in=2, Permanent and Mortgaged

in=3

No land=4.

2.2. How much is the price of Land?

Answer:

Before Migration (per decimal;

Thousands taka)

After migration (per decimal;

thousands taka)

Code: Price of Land (thousand, per acre):

1-5=1, 6-10=2, 11-15=3, 16-20=4, 21-25=5, 26-30=6, 31-35=7, 36-Up=8.

2.3. In which sector remittance money is mostly used?

Answer:

Types of expenditure Amount (%)

(thousands taka)

Code:

Food consumption A=1


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Non food consumption (clothing,

mobile cost, doctor, donation etc.)

B=2

Education C=3

Luxury goods D=4

In debt payment E=5

In marriage of daughter/son

Home construction/repair F=6

Others G=7

Code: Percentage of Expenditure:

Below 5=1, 5-10=2, 11-15=3, 16-20=4, 21-25=5, 26-30=6, 31-35=7, 36-40=8, 41-45=9,

46-50=10, 51-55=11, 56-60=12, 61-70=13, 71-Above=14, No Expenditure=15.

2.4. Has household changed location of Living?

Answer: Yes/ No

2.5. If yes, then where?

Answer:

1. In agricultural land

2. Non-agricultural land

3. Not applicable.

2.6. When did resident build?

Answer:

1. Before migration

2. After migration

2.7. Has household planned for building home in new agricultural land?

Answer: Yes/ No.

2.8. In which sectors remittance money is

mostly invested.

Answer:

Types Amount (%) Code

Code: a=1, b=2.

Code: a=1, b=2, c=3

Code: a=1, b=2.

Code: Yes=1, No=2.


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In business A=1

In Buying new land B=2

In bank savings C=3

In mortgaging in land D=4

In lending E=5

In migration of other family

members.

F=6

Others G=7

No investment H=8

Code: Percentage of investment:

Below 5=1, 5-10=2, 11-15=3, 16-20=4, 21-25=5, 26-30=6, 31-35=7, 36-40=8, 41-45=9,

46-50=10, 51-55=11, 56-60=12, 61-70=13, 71-Above=14, No Expenditure=15.

Impact on Land Relation:

3.1. Who cultivate your land?

Answer:

1. By own

2. By others

3.2. If cultivated by own, then which amount of land?

Answer:

Types Amount (acres) Code

Total A=1

Partial By own B.1=2

B.2=3 By others

3.3. Is household involved in Share Cropping?

Answer: Yes/ No

3.4. What is the source of agriculture labor?

Code: a=1, b=2,

Yes=1, No=2


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Answer:

Types of labor Amount (%) Code

Household member A=1

Hired (Locality and out of locality) B=2

Hired & Household member C=3

Code: Percentage of labor supply:

Below 10=1, 10-20=2, 21-30=3, 31-40=4, 41-50=5, 51-60=6, 61-70=7, 71-80=8, 81-

100=9.

3.5 Who look after the process of cultivation?

Answer:

Types of person Code

Own (respondent) A=1

Wife (respondent) B=2

Husband C=3

Father ( migrant) D=4

Mother (migrant) E=5

Permanent house servant F=6

Son (migrant) G=7

Others H=8

3.6 What did migrant do before migration?

Answer:

Types works Code

Agricultural farming A=1

Business B=2

Job C=3


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Study D=4

Daily labor E=5

Driving F=6

Others G=7

3.7. If land does not cultivated by own then why?

Answer:

Types of reason Code

Lack of working age people A=1

Lack of day labor B=2

Lack of care taker C=3

Cost of cultivation is higher than gains D=4

Others E=5

3.8. If land does not cultivated by own then what is the current status of land?

Answer:

Status of land Amount of land

(acres)

Taka/crops (per

acres, in percent)

Code

Share cropping 1/2, 1/3, 1/4 A=1

Mortgaged out B=2

Cash rent C=3

Lease out D=5

Others D=6

3.9. Does household share cost with share cropper?

Answer: Yes/ No

3.10. If yes, then how?

Answer:

How Amount (%) Code

Code: Yes=1, No=2.


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Total Partial

Provide cash money A=1

Provide seeds B=2

Provide fertilizer C=3

Share cost of Irrigation D=4

Others E=5

3.11. How many times do land cultivate?

Answer: 1/2/3

3.12. Which types of seeds do you cultivate in your land?

Answer: 1. HYV, 2. Traditional 3. Both.

3.13. Does household has other source of

income?

Answer: Yes/ No.

3.14. If yes, then what types of income?

Answer:

Sources of income Amount (%) (thousands taka) Code:

Agriculture A=1

Business B=2

Job C=3

Pension D=4

Others E=5

Code: (%) of contribution:

Below 10=1, 10-20=2, 21-30=3, 31-40=4, 41-50=5, 51-60=6, 61-70=7, 71-80=8, 81-100=9.

Code: Once=1, Twice=2

Code: HYV=1, Traditional=2, Both=3

Code: Yes=1, No=2.


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Interviewed Persons:

1. Shamsul Alam Lablu

Chairman, 3 no. Jirtoly.

2. Abbas Uddin

Local Agriculture Officer

Begumgonj, Noakhali.

Documents

Impact of Foreign Remittance on Land Holding and Land Relation in Rural Area of Bangladesh