Tropentag, September 10 - 12, 2025, Bonn "Reconciling land system changes with planetary health"

Household food security, out-migration and remittance nexus: empirical evidence from rural mid-hills of nepal

¹Tohoku University, Agricultural Economics, Japan
²Tohoku University, Japan, Agricultural Economics
³World FOOD ORGANIZATION of UNITED NATIONS, Nepal

Abstract

This study examines the connection between household-level food security, out-migration, and remittance inflow in the rural landscape of the mid-hills of Nepal. Cross-sectional data were gathered from 387 rural households using purposive random sampling to collect information on migrating and non-migrating households between November and December 2024. The prevalence of household food security was measured using the technical guidance prepared by the World Food Programme' s Consolidated Approach for Reporting Indicators of Food Security (CARI), 2021. An ordered probit regression model was applied to analyse the impact of outmigration and remittance characteristics on the prevalence of household-level food security: food secure, marginally food secure, moderately food insecure, and severely food insecure categories. The outmigration and remittance characteristics are categorised as non- migrant (reference group), migrant- non- remittance, and migrant- remittance receiving household, as the major explanatory variables. The food consumption score suggests that more than 75% of households have acceptable food consumption. More than 90% of households did not adopt food-related coping strategies, indicating food stability. However, a majority (68.73%) of households have spent more than 75% of their total expenditure on food items, suggesting economic vulnerability regarding food security. The ordered probit model indicates that migrant- non-remittance households were less likely to be food secure by 12.38% and more likely to be moderately food insecure by 10.96% compared to non- migrant households. Similarly, migrant- remittance-receiving households were also less likely to be food secure by 12.77% and more likely to be moderately food insecure by 11.64% compared to non- migrant households. The results suggest that migrants- non-remittance households may lose family labour and experience financial instability, struggling more to maintain food security. Likewise, migrant-remittance-receiving households may have small, inconsistent, or poorly managed remittances, spend a larger portion on food items, along with the loss of household labour and reduced agricultural productivity, which could further limit their economic access to food in the rural context of Nepal. Thus, there should be policies regarding the productive use of remittances and secured remittance channels that help investment in the agricultural sector for higher productivity to improve household-level food security parameters.

Keywords: Food security, out-migration, remittance, rural landscape

Contact Address: Ishwor Barshila, Tohoku University, Agricultural Economics, Aoba-468-1 aramaki aoba ward, 9800845 Sendai, Japan, e-mail: barshila.ishwor.q7dc.tohoku.ac.jp