The Vanishing Farms? The Impact of International Migration on Albanian Family Farming

This paper investigates the impact of
international migration on technical efficiency, resource
allocation and income from agricultural production of family
farming in Albania. The results suggest that migration is
used by rural households as a pathway out of agriculture:
migration is negatively associated with the allocation of
both labor and non-labor inputs in agriculture, while no
significant differences can be detected in terms of farm
technical efficiency or agricultural income. Whether the
rapid demographic changes in rural areas triggered by
massive migration, possibly combined with propitious land
and rural development policies, will ultimately produce the
conditions for more viable, high-return agriculture
attracting larger investments remains to be seen.