village agriculture and labor migration: interrelated production activities among the llakla Awa of Papua New Guinea

Abstract

During the initial phase of participation in a cash economy, labor is diverted from local production as people leave the village to enter the wage‐labor market. Given the particular organization of subsistence agriculture among the llakia Awa, periodic undersupply of labor results. Resident villagers respond by altering household gardening strategies to accommodate the loss of local labor. This accommodation, however, becomes burdensome when the number of migrants, especially married men, is high. The intensification of effort required by both the men and the women remaining in the village to maintain sufficient subsistence production is an important factor for understanding the subsequent reduction in the level of participation in wage‐labor migration. [subsistence agriculture, labor migration, domestic economy, sociocultural change, Melanesia]