In Bangladesh, rural–urban migration is widespread. Many earlier studies discussed the factors, patterns, causes, and consequences and the socio-economic and environmental impact of migration from the general perspective. However, rural–urban migration with a particular focus on particular communities or migrants’ employment profiles, for instance, farmers, is poorly described. In contrast, many farmers move from rural to urban areas every year in Bangladesh. However, the factors that affect farmers’ rural-to-urban migration are a primary concern to academia and key actors, as the country’s economy mainly depends on agriculture and farming. This paper, therefore, aimed to identify the underlying factors of the rural–urban (R–U) migration of farmers in Bangladesh. Data for this study came from phone interviews conducted with 254 migrant farmers living in city districts in Bangladesh. We adopted a three-step approach to select and identify factors that impacted farmers’ decision to move from rural to urban settings. First, we reviewed the extant literature and compiled more than 70 variables of interest relevant to farmers’ migration. Second, 30 variables were selected for data collection after consultations with key informants (KIIs) and informal discussions (IDs) with farmers and local community leaders. Besides, the Q-methodology was used to assess the level of importance of the selected variables. Lastly, principal component analysis (PCA) was performed to extract salient dimensions of farmers’ rural-to-urban migration, where 21 variables were detected that consistently exceeded a threshold value of 0.50 of communality for further analysis. Our findings show that six dimensions—i.e., individual, household, economic, attitudinal, spatial, and climate-induced extremes—significantly influence and contribute to rural urban migration decisions for farmers. Further, our results indicated that age, agricultural knowledge, household debt, seasonal famine/poverty (Monga), unemployment in rural areas, availability of anticipated job opportunities in urban areas, shortage of agricultural inputs, and river erosion significantly influenced farmers’ decision to leave their farms in Bangladesh. Findings from this study may be used as inputs in predictive models and benchmark guidelines for assessing trends and patterns of rural-to-urban migration and for the formulation of policy and programs targeting domestic migration in Bangladesh for proper urban planning and further rural development.

Integrated Farming Systems (IFS) is a set of interrelated agro-economic activities where the components interact in a particular agrarian setting. The main thrust is to minimize risks and increase profitability. Around 90-95 percent of nutritional requirements are self-supplied through resource recycling, which curtails the cost of cultivation and increases profit margins and employment. Considering the IFS's importance, this is a review of the productivity, problems, and suggestions for improving IFS. The study's methodology was to integrate the secondary sources. We found efficient integration of field crops with farm animals for sustainable production, income generation, and employment opportunities for resource-poor rural farm families. Financial support with technical assistance and guidance for improving the standard of living of the farm families is suggested. An integrated farming system demonstration center should be established in every district for potential farmers to easily visit them and be informed about IFS as an option.

Internal rural-urban migration is becoming a priority in social research. However, no one has systematically studied the intentions of farmers to migrate internally to Bangladesh to seek permanent urban residence via paid employment yet. This paper develops a TPB (theory of planned behaviour) model to explain farmers’ intentions to migrate or not migrate to cities for paid employment; then, this paper tests the model against the data collected. A total 372 individuals (migrated farmers) were randomly chosen from 11,200 families who had left a rural area in Bangladesh to collect quantitative data about the issues raised in the model; the data were collected by a telephone interview. The socioeconomic profile of the respondents fits that of internal migrants identified in the literature, and the Cronbach’s alpha as well as composite reliability statistics suggest that the data are representative of the population. According to the structural equation modelling (SEM) data, attitudes towards migration (ATTs) and subjective norms (SNs) have an impact on migration intention (MI), while perceived behavioural control (PBC) show no significant effect. This study used a primary dataset from interviews with rural migrants working in different sectors in different cities in Bangladesh. This suggests that the planned behaviour model may help explain farmers’ decisions to migrate internally in Bangladesh and that policies based on the model may successfully reduce such migration.

The central attention of the research is to examine rural women’s awareness on Indigenous Technical Knowledge (ITK) and the reasons behind its use. Along with eight focus group discussions, 150 rural women were randomly interviewed. About seventy percent of the respondents were familiar with selected ITKs. The poor farm women were using ITKs as easy and low-cost options. Though many of them are not aware about sustainable agriculture, they use ITKs to make the best utilization of their resources and capabilities. Age, education, annual family income, cosmopolitanism, organizational participation and knowledge on ITKs revealed important determinants of awareness. The paper recommends revision of the current education policy with special focus on rural needs. To have greater impact on sustainable development, modern technologies should be developed around the ITK-based knowledge. Agricultural extension and mass media can play vital roles to channelize the importance of ITKs.