Floods force Assam farmers to migrate to southern states for jobs, study shows

The study found that about 40% of households in the surveyed villages received a return of less than Rs 2,250 per month from agricultural activities

Assam’s annual floods are not only causing death and large-scale infrastructural destruction, they are also causing long-term impact on rural livelihoods. The displaced farmers are being forced to give up agriculture and migrate to states like Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu in search of jobs.

A study conducted in 83 villages of Assam’s eight flood-affected districts revealed that sand deposition due to the almost yearly floods leaves thousands of hectares of land unsuitable for growing paddy, and other crops. Many other farmers lost land due to riverbank erosion, which has wiped out about 2,500 villages across Assam so far.

“Migration for work from the flood-affected and sand-casted villages of Assam now has become a common phenomenon. The migrated people now look for jobs in plywood and rubber factories of Kerala, industrial jobs in Gujarat and security services jobs in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. The destination in more than 75 per cent cases are outside the state. Insufficient return from non-agriculture jobs/activities available locally has emerged as the prime cause of out-migration for jobs,” stated the report of the study conducted by Cotton University in Guwahati.

Read | Populist plan on loan defaults may unsettle agri debt finances

The survey, titled Floods and Impact on Livelihoods in Rural Assam, was supported by State Innovation and Transformation Aayog (SITA).

The study found that about 40 per cent of households in the surveyed villages received a return of less than Rs 2,250 per month from agricultural activities. This compels the households to diversify the sources of income for survival.

Although agriculture was seen as the main source of earning in the flood-hit villages (between 79 per cent in Dhemaji district to six per cent in Sivasagar district), “non-remunerative agriculture” either because of “yield factor in floods-affected villages” or “price factor in existing institutional setting of market”, or both were forcing the farmers to migrate, the study said.

“Abundance of jobs and regular flow of income has attracted many youths of the state to move out to distant places,” it stated. The earning in those states was found to be between Rs 6,500 to Rs 14,500 per month.

Many such farmers even learnt some skills for non-farm sector jobs like rubber industry in Kerala. “In the plywood factories of Perumvavoor, Kerala, workers from Assam now account for about 80 per cent of the total workers. The presence of workers from Assam is also reported in rubber, plastic and spice factories as well as in non-standard jobs in the hotel and hospitality sector,” said the report.

The study was conducted in Dhemaji, Lakhimpur, Sonitpur, Majuli, Sibasagar, Morigaon, Bongaigaon and Dhubri districts in Assam.

The magnitude of out-migration for work was found to be very high in the households visited in the villages of Dhemaji (out migrants for work were found in 29.5 per cent of visited homes), Lakhimpur marginally behind at 29.3 per cent, but the highest in Dhubri, at 36.4 per cent.

The proportion is significantly higher compared to the rest of the country (nine per cent).

“The crisis is so apparent that some households have multiple members who have moved out for work; opportunity costs being at home is high, nullifying even the social costs of migration. Interaction with the migrant workers revealed that they enjoy their jobs, employment, and labour market security outside the state. Jobs back at home are intermittent, and state supported programmes like MGNREGA only creates dependency syndrome,” said the report.

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, while releasing the study report on Thursday, expressed concern over migration of farmers for jobs in the non-agriculture sector. He asked agriculture university and other agriculture research organisations to identify the crops which can be grown in the sandy land.