Migration and agricultural intensification at origin: Evidence from farm households in Central Africa

Migration and remittances has potential to improve development in rural areas but in Rwanda and Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo empirical work is still limited. We used New Economics of Labour Migration as analytical framework to explain the role of migration and remittances on crop intensification. A randomly selected sample of 480 farm households were interviewed. We found that out-migration negatively influence input use while remittance does not affect their use either. We recommend smart input subsidies and policy on their distribution to create higher incomes, thus discouraging massive rural out-migration. In addition, creation of an enabling investment environment in the sending areas by improving basic infrastructure and efficiently channelling extension messages to farmers would increase intensification and crop yields.