Climate Variability, Temporal Migration, and Household Welfare among Agricultural Households in Tanzania

Martin Julius Chegere () and Theresia Livinus Mrosso
Additional contact information
Martin Julius Chegere: School of Economics, University of Dar es Salaam, Dar es Salaam P.O. Box 35045, Tanzania
Theresia Livinus Mrosso: School of Economics, University of Dar es Salaam, Dar es Salaam P.O. Box 35045, Tanzania

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 22, 1-19

Abstract: Climate change has been one of the factors inducing people to migrate internally. As a result of climate change risks, the temporal migration strategy has been employed as an insurance strategy to cope with its impacts. This study analyses whether climate variability is a driving factor for temporal migration among agricultural households and whether such migration shields farmers from agricultural shocks. The study used three waves of the Tanzania National Panel Survey data and employed various descriptive and panel-data econometric techniques in the analyses. Results indicated that climate variability has no effect on overall agricultural production but has a significant effect on maize production, a staple food crop in Tanzania. Moreover, high market value from production was associated with a lower chance that climate variability forced a household member to migrate. In cases where climate change leads to temporal migration, the migrants may shield the household from large welfare losses by bringing back their earned income with new skills. More investments in adaptation to climate change can reduce temporal migration. This will facilitate retaining productive forces, thus boosting the rural economy where agriculture is commonly practiced.

Keywords: climate variability; migration; welfare; agricultural households; panel data models (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/22/14701/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/22/14701/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:22:p:14701-:d:966497

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().