Today the scale of migratory phenomena in Nepal is such that
migrations are part of Nepalese people’s social landscape: every family has
a relative who has migrated, either abroad temporarily or permanently to
the Terai; a young hill man has a good chance of having to leave his native
village at some point in his life, contrary to his ancestors who, for the
most part, stayed there from birth to the end of their lives.
However, to fully grasp the extent of the migratory phenomena,
precise quantitative data are needed. Here, based on such data collected at
a fifteen-year interval in an irrigated village in Western Nepal, I analyse
both how migratory phenomena have developed in this village, as well as
the local impact these migrations have in the field of social organisation,
farming and land tenure. The hamlet studied, Aslewacaur, is located in
Gulmi, one of the most densely populated districts in the Nepalese hills
(258 pers/km² in 2001) and one of the most affected by temporary labour
migrations (ICIMOD et al. 2003): the study therefore reflects the strategic
adaptation of the population when there is a marked imbalance in the
carrying capacity of an area – the carrying capacity is a concept describing
the interrelations between population, labour supply, natural resources
and technology (Schroll 2001: 129).