Dhaka: Rapid migration of rural young people to urban areas for better economic opportunities has posed a challenge to the rice farming in Asian countries including Bangladesh, a recent study of International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) said.

The study on the ongoing transformation of rice farming in Asia noted that rapid outmigration of rural youths in search of better economic opportunities resulted in the increase of number of elderly people and women who are left behind to take care of farming.

The study also cautioned that the outmigration of younger generation would accelerate further in future, with the regional economy continuing stronger trend and urbanisation maintaining fast paces.

‘The growing urbanisation with more than doubling from 1 to 2.1 billion between 1990 and 2015 is expected to rise in the future with continued strong economic growth and better economic opportunities outside agriculture and the rural sector, said the study.

According to the study, the average age of rice farmers in Bangladesh increased from 44 in 1988 to 51 in 2011 when the age rose to 58 from 44 in the Philippines, said a BSS report.

With the migration of male members, the women are taking over the role of farm managers and decision makers. In general, women are mainly involved in establishing the crop, harvesting, and postharvest activities while men lead in preparing the land, managing the crop, operating farm machines, and marketing, the study said.

Apart from rural outmigration, rising nonfarm opportunities in rural areas that account for 40 percent of total rural employment are making agricultural labour shortages even more acute in Asia, the IRRI study said, pointing out that the increasing labour scarcity has led to a rapid rise in wage rates in the past decade in almost all Asian rice-growing countries.

Referring to another study, IRRI mentioned that the wage accelerated after the mid-2000s in major rice-growing countries such as China, India, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Vietnam. The real wage rate rise in China was more than 90.0 percent between 2003 and 2007, 35.0 percent in India between 2006 and 2013 and 45.0 percent in Bangladesh between 2005 and 2010.