Impact of drought on out-migration among rural farm households in India: does participation in non-farm activities and access to irrigation make any difference?

While the effect of rainfall and temperature anomalies on migration is well documented in the literature, little is known about the impact of climate-change-induced extreme events, particularly drought, on migration among rural farm households in India. Moreover, moderating impact of non-farm activities and access to irrigation on drought-induced migration is also less explored. Our present study makes a novel contribution to fill this gap in the literature. Combining Round I (2004-2005) and Round II (2011-2012) of India Human Development Survey, we construct a large household level panel data to investigate first the impact of repeated drought events on migration. Second, we also estimate heterogeneous impact of drought on migration across households based on their participation in non-farm activities and access to irrigation. Employing difference-in-difference methodology, our results find evidence of drought-induced migration among rural farm households. However, no significant evidence of drought-induced migration was observed among households engaged in non-farm business activities and having access to irrigation. Implications of our empirical findings for disaster risk reduction are also discussed.