The meaning of farming beyond being a livelihood strategy: the complex linkages between climate change, agriculture and international migration in Zacatecas, Mexico

ABSTRACT

In this paper I argue that the cultural meaning of subsistence farming is at least equally important as its function as a livelihood strategy in rural Mexico for at least two reasons. First, subsistence farming is more or less important during different stages of people’s lives. Many young people, particularly men, intend to migrate to the USA for work and have little interest in farming, while older people keep up the tradition of farming the land they inherited from their ancestors. Second, in most cases only households who rely on external sources of income for their basic needs – including remittances – can afford keeping the tradition of subsistence farming and take the risk of crop failures. Poorer households, in contrast, tend to stop farming when revenues cannot be guaranteed, and they might also be unable to afford international migration. Drawing on qualitative empirical data collected in two rural communities in the Mexican state Zacatecas in 2008 and in 2018 these findings contribute to a better understanding of the relationship between more frequent and more severe droughts, related changes to the yield output of subsistence farming for rural dwellers, and outmigration to the USA in times of climate change.

KEYWORDS:

• Migration
• climate change
• farming
• yields
• Mexico

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Dr. Kerstin Schmidt is a lecturer and researcher at the Faculty for Sociology at Bielefeld University, Germany. Kerstin's PhD (Sussex University, UK 2012) developed a conceptual and methodological approach to the climate change-migration nexus and empirically investigated the potential impact of climate change on existing migration patterns in Mexico. Her recent research interests include the transnational perspective on migration, categorisations of migrants and refugees, and migration and international development.

ORCID

Kerstin Schmidt http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0080-508X

Notes

1. http://app1.semarnat.gob.mx/dgeia/informe_12/06_agua/recuadro1.html.

2. http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2012/06/20/sociedad/046n1soc.

3. http://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/cmb/drought/nadm/nadm-narr-201307.pdf.

4. https://agua.org.mx/sequia-pone-en-riesgo-cultivos-frijol-maiz-en-zacatecas.

5. Many people use the term ‘al otro lado’ – ‘on the other side’ to refer to the USA.