Research Article

The Effect of Rural Out-Migration on Farm Income of Migrant Sending Rural Households: The Case of Alaje Woreda, Tigray Regional State, Ethiopia.

Research on the relationship between rural-out migration and agricultural production is highly hampered by empirical evidence fromthe perspective of migrant-sending rural households. This paper assesses the effect of rural-out migration on farm income of migrant- sending rural households with evidence from Alaje woreda, Southern Tigray, Ethiopia. This paper utilized both desk and field research that depends on both secondary and primary data. A mixed research approach was applied. Using a simple random sampling technique 145 sample households were used for the household survey. The quantitative data were analyzed by descriptive and inferential statistics. Cobb-Douglas production function approach and ordinary least squares regression model was used to estimate the impact of rural-out migration on farm income. The findings showed that rural out-migration has significantly reduced the available labor in migrantsending households and remittances play a positive and significant role in boosting investment in capital stock. Migrant sending households have obtained higher income from the farm as a result of positive marginal productivity of labor and remittance incomereceived