Assessing the Impact of Massive Out-Migration on Albanian Agriculture

  • Nancy McCarthy
  • Calogero Carletto
  • Talip Kilic
  • Benjamin Davis
Original Article
First Online:

Abstract

In this paper, we examine the impacts of migration on household-level farm production decisions, including labor allocation, crop diversification, and agricultural and total household incomes, using household survey data from Albania. Results indicate that increased international migration leads to a reduction in household labor allocated to agricultural activities and crop diversity, but has no impact on agricultural income. However, it does lead to higher total incomes. These findings suggest that international migration does not strengthen household agricultural production but instead facilitates the transition away from agriculture. We also consider the effect on agricultural outcomes of the network of adult children who have left home but are still living in Albania. The effect of this local migration on agriculture is the opposite: larger networks lead to higher agricultural incomes and greater agricultural labor per capita.

Keywords

migration rural development agricultural production Albania 

Abstract

Cet article se penche sur les impacts de la migration sur les décisions de production agricole des ménages, y compris par rapport à l'attribution des tâches, la diversification des récoltes, ainsi que les revenus domestiques agricoles et totaux, en utilisant des données d'une enquête auprès de ménages, en Albanie. Les résultats indiquent que la migration internationale conduit à réduire le temps de travail consacré aux activités agricoles, ainsi qu'à diminuer la diversité des récoltes, mais n'a aucun impact sur le revenu agricole. La migration mène cependant à des revenus globaux plus élevés. Ces résultats suggèrent que la migration internationale ne renforce pas la production agricole au niveau des ménages, mais facilite plutôt la transition vers des activités économiques autres que l'agriculture. Nous considérons également l'effet sur l'activité agricole du départ du foyer de jeunes adultes qui restent cependant en Albanie. Cette migration locale produit l'effet opposé à celui de la migration internationale : plus grands sont les réseaux internes, plus les revenus agricoles et le temps de travail agricole par habitant augmentent.

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Notes

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Carlo Azzarri, Paul Winters and Alberto Zezza for useful comments. We are also grateful to Irini Maltsoglou for supporting the analysis of an earlier version of the paper. Finally, we acknowledge the Albania Institute of Statistics (INSTAT) for a fruitful collaboration and granting access to the data.

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Copyright information

© Palgrave Macmillan 2009

Authors and Affiliations

  • Nancy McCarthy
    • 1
  • Calogero Carletto
    • 2
  • Talip Kilic
    • 2
  • Benjamin Davis
    • 3
  1. 1.George Mason University School of LawArlington
  2. 2.The World BankWashington
  3. 3.UNICEFNairobi

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