International Journal of Physical and Social Sciences
Year : 2013, Volume : 3, Issue : 10
First page : ( 482) Last page : ( 504)
Online ISSN : 2249-5894.

Rural out-migration and household livelihoods in Tabora Region, Tanzania

Masanja George F.

PhD, Department of Geography, St. Augustine University of Tanzania, Tanzania, Mwanza, Tanzania

Online published on 21 November, 2013.

Abstract

The migration of labor out of rural areas as a strategy for rural household livelihood and the flow of remittances from migrants to rural households is an increasingly important feature of developing countries. This paper explores ways in which use of rural household livelihoods and migration influences incomes and productivity of land and human capital in rural households over time, using new household survey data from Tabora. The findings suggest that use of components of rural household livelihoods increased productivity. Similarly, a massive increase in migration to the regional urban centres increased per-capita incomes via remittances and also by raising land productivity in migrant-sending households. They do not support the pessimistic view that migration discourages production in migrant-sending economies, nor the view implicit in separable agricultural household models that migration and remittances influence household incomes but not production.

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Keywords

Migration, household, rural livelihoods, remittances, Tanzania.

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