Migration: economic peasant adaptation strategy front agricultural disasters in the state of Puebla

Abstract

The objective this research was to analyze if the agricultural disasters on seasonal maize production have encouraged the migration and if it has been stablished as a strategy to revitalize economically the peasant family production unit. A statistical survey was applied to 95 peasants randomly chosen. The results showed that labor migration has become the economic adaptation strategy and is superior in spaces with higher propen-sity frost. National migration is directed to the most populated cities in the center of the country and the international migration is directed to Angeles and New York. In the eigh-ties and nineties the main cause of migration was the presence of frost and drought. The income generated from migration was invested in agricultural activities. We concluded that, the labor migration is temporary and contributed to improve the living conditions of the peasants.