Labour migration has been a common element of the survival strategy of people in the mountain districts of Pakistan for centuries. Traditionally, migration from these areas started on a seasonal basis, when labour migration to the lowlands served as a means of dealing with food insecurity and as a source of additional income (Olimova 2005). Over the years, migration patterns from the mountain districts have evolved into more permanent migration to urban areas in Pakistan and even abroad. Key reasons include population growth, which leads to shortages of arable land and food insecurity, and the lure of the outside world through improved technology and the widespread use of mobile phones, radio, the Internet, and television in mountain districts. According to a study carried out in 2007 by South Asia Partnership-Pakistan (Arif 2009), as many as five (out of six) districts in the Northern Areas (NA) of Pakistan and four (out of eight) in Azad Jammu Kashmir (AJK) have low or extremely low access to food. In terms of food availability, the analysis ranked NA and AK as two of the top three food insecure areas in Pakistan. At the same time, only 37% of rural households in Pakistan own land, and of these, 67% own less than two hectares (five acres) (Arif 2009).
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