Although international migration is playing an increasingly important role in Nepal, at
both the macro and household levels, and in particular for the poverty reduction of rural
families, empirical work focusing on this phenomenon has been largely absent. With a
special view on the rural poor, in this paper we investigate the impact of international
labour migration on subsistence agricultural production in the Western Mid Hills of
Nepal, based on a survey conducted among smallholders with migrating family members.
The results demonstrate that international migration leads to negligence of cereals
– paddy, wheat, maize and millet, in particular, being the major subsistence crops. While
bearing a negative impact on family labour input, its impact on hired farm labour is
positive. Yet it does not affect material inputs such as fertilizer, and although it helps to
ease households’ liquidity and capital constraints, it does not contribute to moving subsistence
farming towards more profitable commercial farming. Therefore, although
migration reduces poverty in the short run and also allows for higher daily consumption,
its negative impact on cereal production requires attention by policymakers.