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Abstract

Agricultural systems in rural Nepal face significant transformation due to climate change and shifting household labour dynamics. Male out-migration, a key but underexplored driver of this change, disrupts traditional gendered labor divisions and reshapes agricultural decision-making. In smallholder farms, traditionally, men are more responsible for tasks like ploughing and harvesting, whereas women take on planting, weeding, and winnowing roles. In the context of male out-migration, women must take primary responsibility for managing farms and households. However, persistent social and structural inequalities continue to constrain their decision-making authority. The feminisation of agriculture has important implications for adopting sustainable agricultural practices (SAPs). Using survey data from 400 households and Poisson regression analysis, this study examines the effects of migration, remittances, and female-managed farms on SAP adoption. Our results highlight that household farms having migrated member(s), receiving remittance and female-managed farms are more likely to adopt SAPs. In contrast, a higher number of out-migrating females negatively affects adoption, reflecting women’s critical role in sustainable farming adoption. Their participation in women’s groups, which provide training and financial resources and their management of tasks such as seed selection, winnowing, and organic pest control, are essential to SAP implementation. As such, our study provides a deeper understanding of the positive role of females in SAP adoption. We advocate for policies that recognising intersectional vulnerabilities, supporting women’s groups, lead to increased adoption of sustainable agricultural practices.