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Migration from rural areas is significant, and policy-makers must seek to maximize its positive impacts on development. The movement of people out of agriculture and into other sectors with higher productivity – manufacturing and services, mostly located in urban areas – contributes to economic growth and higher incomes for migrants from rural areas. However, migration also has profound impacts on rural areas of origin, some positive and some negative. Hence policies should support productive capacity and livelihoods in rural areas as migrant labourers move away. It is also important to enhance the contribution of migrants to the development of rural areas of out-migration through remittances, return migration and investment. Finally, the development of regional urban centres and the promotion of circular and seasonal migration can allow rural households to diversify their livelihoods and increase their incomes.

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