Roles of Immigrants on Communities’ Livelihood in Sunamganj Area: An Empirical Analysis

Abstract

Tahirpur Upazila of the Sunamganj District is regarded as one of the high-income regions that might entice various communities for interregional migration. The study included several methodological steps through which primary and secondary data and information were gathered and evaluated to determine the contributions of the immigrant groups to the local communities’ quality of life. The study was conducted on the two distinct populations of local agriculture farmers and the immigrant community living in two mouzas (Jamalgar and Niamatpur) of two separate unions. It involved quantitative household surveys, participatory Focus Group Discussions (FGDs), Key Informant Interviews (KIIs), personal interviews, and case studies. I found that farmers require hiring some migrant workers to help them harvesting the standing Boro-Rice sooner for preventing unexpected crop losses due to flash floods. This region also draws other communities to move here as practitioners and entrepreneurs. A whole community has also been attracted to immigrate here for living permanently. The study suggested that the changing flow of labor and capital plays a role in changing the socio-economic landscape of the source region through changing its economic activity, the restructuring of local infrastructure, and economic policies. Mechanization in harvesting Boro-Rice demands more financial resources than some laborers do. It is, thus, concluded that the present financial capital is not compatible with living standards and physical capital of the local agriculture farmers, because they need to spend maximum portions of that capital for climate change adaptation and mechanization process, although the declining immigrant worker flow results in producing more financial capital through increasing capital flows among the workers within Tahirpur Upazila. However, it has been informed that social disputes differ depending on the size and employment of immigrant populations. Compared to migrant employees, migrant entrepreneurs can participate in local community activities more readily. This study also found that migration of an entire population can lead to violence.