The pathway from domestic remittances to food security in India: is agriculture a mediator?

Remittances sent from migrants to agricultural origin households can improve food security through market purchases as result of increased income, improved production and consumption of home-produced food enabled by agricultural investments, or a combination of both. These mechanisms have thus far only been hypothesized. Using two waves of the India Human Development Survey (IHDS), we conducted a serial mediation analysis to test how agricultural investments, production, and consumption of home-grown foods mediate the pathway from domestic remittances to food security. Our results demonstrate that there are no differences between remittance and non-remittance receiving households in agricultural expenses or farm income, controlling for land size and other covariates. The total effects of remittances lower food insecurity; however, this is entirely explained by the market pathway, represented by the direct effect of remittances on food insecurity. Our findings challenge the policy narrative that migration lessens production. Policies that emphasize crop diversification to improve food security among rural smallholders must be migration sensitive. For households engaging in migration, policy imperatives include strengthening rural markets, especially for women-headed households, and making healthy foods affordable.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40066-025-00574-9.