Does translocal vulnerability apply to labor migrants into the sesame production belt amid covid-19? Evidence from districts in Ethiopia

Abstract

Purpose The outbreak of covid-19 has affected international migration and remittance and has also narrowed down the opportunities for internal labor migrants. The pandemic has also left internal migrants in a threatening situation due to the closure of job opportunities. Taking the migration of labor from the highland toward the sesame production belt into consideration, this study aims to examine the influencing factors of migration to the sesame belt amid covid-19 and ascertain the link between migration and translocal vulnerability. Design/methodology/approach The study followed a mixed approach that combines quantitative and qualitative methods. However, the quantitative approach tends to dominate due to the nature of the objectives of the study. The study was conducted in the central Gondar zone, using a cross-sectional survey design with a sample size of 150 households collected from January to March, 2021. Both descriptive and econometrics models such as binary logit model have been used. Findings Based on the study result, we came to understand that migration is part and parcel of the livelihoods of the farm household that accounts for 35% of migration status amid covid-19. Particularly, the study came to conclude that households’ decision to send family members heavily relied on their prior information and fear of transmission of the coronavirus to family members which are statistically significant. As a result, this piece of work can be a good witness for translocal vulnerability where studies are very limited in the area. For this, this study suggests that concerned bodies like social and labor affairs in consultation with the agriculture offices and bureaus at a different level and the investors in the migrant’s destination should facilitate the protection and awareness mechanisms so that the spread of covid-19 can be minimized and thereby both the migrants and the investors can be benefitted from the migrants’ work amid covid-19. Originality/value This study tries to connect the current spread of covid-19 with the translocal vulnerability context. Primarily, it empirically argued the translocal vulnerability factor is the main determinant for the farm households to send families’ labor as a livelihood diversification strategy. Very limited studies consider the translocal vulnerability implication of migration; notably to the best of the researchers’ knowledge, studies that linked covid-19 with translocal vulnerability context are scant. On top of that, many studies that link migration with covid-19 tend to be inclined to international migration with very limited attention to internal migration.