Dynamics of Seasonal Migration of Rural Livelihood: Capital Formation Perspective

Muhaiminul Islam; Sumaia Kashem; Shameem Morshed; Md. Mostafizur Rahman; Anutosh Das

doi:10.21467/ajss.5.1.81-92

Authors

Muhaiminul Islam Department of Urban & Regional Planning, Rajshahi University of Engineering & Technology, Bangladesh
Sumaia Kashem Department of Urban & Regional Planning, Rajshahi University of Engineering & Technology
Shameem Morshed Department of Urban & Regional Planning, Rajshahi University of Engineering & Technology, Rajshahi-6204, Bangladesh
Md. Mostafizur Rahman Department of Urban & Regional Planning, Rajshahi University of Engineering & Technology(RUET), Rajshahi-6204
Anutosh Das Department of Urban & Regional Planning, Rajshahi University of Engineering & Technology(RUET), Rajshahi-6204

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21467/ajss.5.1.81-92

Abstract

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

Keywords:

Food security, livelihood resilience, seasonal migration, environmental change.

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