Migration and the transformation of peasant

agriculture in the Ganges plains: the new frontier of

agrarian change

Fraser Sugden – IWMI Nepal

Background

Out migration represents a critical transformation in the agricultural

sector throughout the majority world

• Changing intra-household division of labour

• Changed urban-rural linkages

• Changed patterns of investment (or disinvestment) on the land

Of critical importance to note is that in the South Asian context,

despite the astronomical rise in migration, agriculture remains

critical for rural food security – emergence of a dual livelihood

strategy. People are not “leaving the land”

We must live with migration – but there are ways in which the

outcomes can be made more equitable, particularly for those who

stay behind and remain in agriculture.

Kathmandu

Tibetan Autonomous

Region

Nepal

Survey sites

Darbhanga

Madhubani

MITHILANCHAL

Bihar

Janakpur

Biratnagar

ADIVASI BELT

Purnea

Methods

This study is an amalgamation of multiple sources, following a decades’ work in the plains of Nepal and Bihar.

The primary data source is two large random surveys on agriculture and livelihoods.

CCAFS survey in 2013: 427 households in Rakuwari and Bhupattiof Bihar’s Madhubani district, Thadi Jijha and Ekrahi of Nepal’s Dhanusha district, and Bhaudaha, Jhorahat and Thalaha of Morang district.

SRFSI survey: 809 households in Ragunathpur and Giddha of Dhanusha, Korahiya and Nanour of Madhubani, Dogadhinagar and Damdaha of Bihar’s Purnea district, and Simariya and Mahendranagar of Nepal’s Sunsari district.

Data from interviews with 127 women farmers in Madhubani (India), Saptari and Dhanusha (Nepal)

51 FGDs and interviews for both studies

Poverty and land inequality in the

Plains of North Bihar and Nepal Tarai

While dominance of a single zaminidari class has declined, the

relations of production remain overwhelmingly feudal in character

The Plains of Bihar and the Nepal Tarai-Madhesh is a region with

one of the most inequitable agrarian structures in Asia

The amalgamation of survey data from the 14 villages showed that

half the land was under tenancy

Large farmers (>2ha) who represent just 5.5% of the sample own a

third of the land, while 55% of the rented-in land belongs to

absentee landlords, often the relics of the zamindar class.

Marginal farmers with less than 0.5ha, tenants, part tenants and

landless labourers together constitute 70% of the population.

Despite greater peasant mobilisation and awareness of their rights,

surplus appropriation through sharecropping, low wage labour, and

usury remains widespread.

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

Madhubani Purnea Dhanusha Sunsari Morang

landless labourer tenant part tenant <0.5ha 0.5-1ha 1-2ha >2ha

Agrarian structure in 14 village

study

Agrarian stress in the eastern Gangetic Plains

• Agrarian crisis since the 1990s

• Increasingly erratic climate

• Changing precipitation patterns

• Winter cold spells

• Early rains during wheat harvest

• Limited capacity to invest in irrigation

• Cost of pump sets unfeasible for poorer and tenant farmers

• Absentee landlordism constricts expansion of tubewells

• Limited electrification and power shortages..

• Rising cost of living, consumerism.

• Poor terms of trade for agriculture following economic liberalisation– rising input prices, stagnant demand for commercial products

• In the context of agrarian stress, the non-farm economy is increasingly essential for farmers to meet their subsistence needs

Migration trends in North Bihar and Nepal

Migration started in colonial times, but it only became a significant

component of the livelihood strategy in the late 1980s

Agrarian stress combined with external changes in the labour market,

created the conditions for the migrant boom. External changes include:

• Economic liberalization in India and urban growth, particularly in the service

and construction sector

• Changing geopolitics in the Gulf states which sought a politically neutral

and flexible labour force from the 1990s onwards.

Survey in North Bihar by Karan (2003) noted that as of 1982/3, 27.69%

of households had migrated. As of 1999/2000 this had doubled,

jumping to 48.63%.

In 1981 Nepal census, there were 402,977 household members

classed as ‘absentee’. This increased more than fourfold to 1,921,494

by 2011.

Migration and accumulation of wealth

Over 50% of households across all wealth groups had migrant

family members

However, they type of work varies considerably according to

economic class position, as does the income.

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Landlesslabourer

Tenant,part-tenant

land ownerwith <0.5 ha

Land ownerwith 0.5-1

ha

1-2ha Land ownerwith >2ha

% of households having used remittance to invest in land or agricultural equipment

Is migration leading to socio-economic upliftment?

A significant proportion of migrant remittances are absorbed by non-

productive investments.

Integral link between debt, surplus appropriation and migration

• Debt both drives migration, while migration itself often causes farmers

to fall into further debt (esp for overseas work with high upfront costs)

• In Nepal, the informal money lending sector has boomed as a result of

migration, with interest rates of 36 – 50%. Provides a new source of

income for landlords with declining holdings.

• Alongside this is an entire sector of rent-seeking institutions such as

the manpower industry.

Migration and socio-economic breakdown

• Community institutions such as canal management committees

breaking down due to labour shortages

• Few efforts to include women in formally male domains

Data from Bihar and Nepal case study sites

on average % distribution of remittances

.00

5.00

10.00

15.00

20.00

25.00

30.00

35.00

40.00

Feminization of agriculture and ‘subsidized labour’

Despite the boom in migration – agriculture remains critical for those who stay behind – namely women and old people.

Remittances only cover part of the subsistence needs

Migrant labour has emerged in a very different context from Industrial Revolution Europe where entire families would leave the land, and wages would support labourers and their families – along with en entire socio-political formation to support the working class – emergence of the welfare state.

In the contemporary South Asian context, migrant wages only support the sustenance of the labourer, with some excess to meet cash needs at home.

Feminised agriculture, even under semi-feudal conditions, provides food for the rest of the family, and provides sustenance to the labourer during his leave

In effect, feminized agriculture supports the entire low wage labourregime of South Asia and labour receiving countries.

Challenges for those who stay behind

Extremely high workload – especially for marginal and tenant

farmers who can not hire in labour

Restricted access to government and non-government services due

to policies which have not caught up with changing demography

and gendered division of labour.

Challenges in accessing irrigation and other key resources which

were once in the male domain.

Economic and social isolation – particularly for newly weds (e.g.

cross border Nepal-India marriage patterns)

There are some opportunities for gender empowerment – yet this is

often restricted to better of households with access to capital and

land

Ways forward

The only long term solution will be through the development of broad based equitable growth of domestic employment opportunities – remittances are not a path to economic growth.

Engage in meaningful dialogue over redistributive land reform –providing a stronger livelihood for those who stay behind, and making agricultural investment of remittances more feasible.

• Explore new models of land management such as collectives

Coping with migration?

• In the immediate future, critical need for agricultural programmes to better engage with women – the primary custodians of the land in new ways which can help them overcome agrarian stress.

- Move beyond tokenism and engage women more actively in key decision making roles, including the identification of gendered constraints to participation.

- Reform policies which constrain women from accessing government services – e.g. requirements of land ownership papers for agricultural support

• Much stronger regulation of the overseas manpower industry.

Thank you…