Labour migration and paddy production; a comparative analysis

Abstract

Migration can be identified as the flow or movement of people from the place of origin to the other surrounding, whether inside or outside the country with various reasons. Migration plays a major role in the economic development of Sri Lanka. In recent years, the outflow of Sri Lankan workers has shown an increasing trend. Sri Lanka is predominantly an agricultural country and paddy sector receives the highest priority in development agenda in Sri Lanka, as rice is the staple food in the country. At present Sri Lankan paddy sector suffers from many constraints such as scarcity of arable land, high cost of inputs and scarcity of labour (Ranathunga, 2011). Scarcity of labour for paddy production occurs mainly due to labour migration (Paris.et.al, 2009). In many studies, researchers find out the various impacts of migration. But it is very fewer Sri Lankan studies on examine the impact of labour migration on paddy production. In this context the objectives of the study were (i) to find out the impact of labour migration on paddy production and (ii) to estimate the production function of paddy in relation to the labour migration.

Methodology Research was carried out Galaha, Thalathuoya and MarassanaGovijanaseva divisions under the Pathahewahata Divisional Secretariat division in Kandy District. Multi stage sampling technique was used to select 150 paddy farm families from selected area. Multi stage sample was surveyed based on a semi structured pre-tested questionnaire to gather necessary information. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analysis the data. Descriptive statistical methods were used to describe the characteristics of the sample such as demographic information about paddy farmers and migrants, production details in paddy and labour usage in

Production analysis.(Nonthakot and Villano, 2008). Empirical model : lnY⁡ = β0 +βiln⁡(X i) + ⁡i

function

was

used

for

econometrics

The Y is the yearly output from paddy production in kilograms. Xi denotes the vector of independent variables such as family labour input, land extend, yearly fixed capital, fertilizer inputs, seed quantity, land quality and household type. In paddy production labour is used under three categories, family labour, hired labour and exchange labour. Among those categories family labour was used for the empirical model. Labour input was measured in man days. Variable of land extend was measured by acre. Yearly fixed capital gives the real value of all machinery, equipment, and value of land in rupees. Variable of fertilizer input shows the amount of fertilizer usage per year in kilograms. Variable of the seed quantity shows the quantity of seed paddy used for cultivation in kilograms. Land quality is a dummy variable distinguishing whether it is irrigated land or not. Household type is a dummy variable indicating the household with at least one out migrant. The references group is the household without any out migrant.ɛi is the stochastic disturbance term.

Results and Discussion

According to descriptive statistics, nearly 78% in the sample was male and the rest 22% were female. Most of farmers in the sample were older than 40 years. 58% farmers of the sample were educated up to ordinary level. Most of farmers in this area had a higher level of experience. 39% of farmers had more than 30 year experience. 40% of farmers had10 to 30 years experience. Farmers in this area had a diversified income sourcing, income from paddy cultivation, vegetable and other crops cultivation, animal husbandry, from private sector and government sector occupation and specially from the remittances. Most of farmers get 100000 to 600000 rupees income per year. In that income category 58.06% were migrant household and 41.94% were non-migrant household.

Most of farmers in the area engage in small scale paddy cultivation. Most of them (48%) cultivate less than an acre. Only 1.32% farmers cultivate more than 3 acre. The area gets 1500kg/acre average productivity. To cultivate 1 acre of land area need 70 man days, on average. 55% from the total sample were migrant household and 45% were non-migrant household. Among the migrants 74% were male and 26% were female. Most of migrants were very young people (<30 years). There were 121 migrants in the sample. Among them 81% were send in remittances to their household.In econometric analysis, first present the findings on the determinants of paddy production of the total sample.Labour input played a positive role in paddy production with elasticity being around 6.77 for households.Fertilizer was significant with a positive relationship. 1% increase of fertilizer caused to increase yield by 0.37%.Quantity of seed paddy was significant with-1.62 elasticity. Land quality is significant with -0.02elasticity.