Rural Out-migration and Its Impact on Crop Production Efficiency of Producers in Southern Ethiopia.

This article examines the impact of labor out-migration on the output per hectare and technical efficiency of wheat and teff producers in the Kembata-Tembaro and Hadiya zones of Ethiopia. Using primary data from 415 rural households and employing a multinomial endogenous switching model alongside a stochastic frontier model, the study finds average technical efficiencies of 82.98% for wheat and 66.43% for teff. Results indicate that both rural–urban and international migration significantly reduce wheat and teff productivity, with international migration also decreasing teff producers' technical efficiency by 5.51%. The findings support the modern theory of migration's lost labor channel, suggesting that labor out-migration diminishes agricultural productivity in origin areas. The study recommends policy interventions to improve rural credit access, irrigation, land availability, off-farm employment, and public services to mitigate the negative effects of out-migration.