Abstract:
This study evaluated the impact of participation in rural-urban and international migration on
vulnerability to rural multidimensional poverty, and crop production efficiency of migrant sending households in southern Ethiopia. It also quantified the extent and examined the
determinants of rural multidimensional poverty and vulnerability to rural multidimensional
poverty. In the year 2021, data were collected from 415 sample households using stratified
random sampling. While the partial proportional odds model was used to investigate the sources
of household vulnerability to rural multidimensional poverty, the ordered logit model was used
to investigate the determinants of rural multidimensional deprivation. The impact of rural out migration on vulnerability, and technical efficiency of wheat and teff producers was measured
using the multinomial endogenous switching model. Rural multidimensional poverty had a 72.3,
57.3, and 41.4 percent incidence, intensity, and adjusted headcount ratio, respectively. The
living standard and rural livelihood dimensions together contributed about 60 percent to rural
poverty. Besides, 84 percent of rural households were vulnerable to future multidimensional
poverty. Chronic and transitory rural multidimensional poverty affected approximately 66.5 and
23.37 percent of households, respectively. Female-headed households were more vulnerable to
poverty compared to male-headed households. The switching regression results showed that
international migration reduced rural multidimensional poverty and vulnerability by 34.27 and
12.35 percent, respectively, whereas rural-urban migration reduced rural multidimensional
poverty and vulnerability by 20.63 and 11.40 percent, respectively. Likewise, rural-urban and
international migration reduced wheat productivity by 110.94 and 179.11 kilograms,
respectively while rural-urban and international migration reduced teff productivity by 382.94
and 747.49 kilograms, respectively. Similarily, international migration reduced Teff producers'
technical efficiency by 5.51 percent. Policymakers must improve access to credit, nonfarm
employment, rural land, and public infrastructure to capitalize on the positive gains and
mitigate the negative effects of rural-out migration. Motivating rural youth to work in
agriculture will help to reduce the current wave of rural out-migration in southern Ethiopia
