Modeling Migrant Native Contracts

An interesting feature witnessed in Andhra Pradesh (AP) is the out-migration of peasants from their village of origin to areas with 'potential 'for assured water supply. These migrations introduced new crops into the area that they have migrated to.It is generally seen that initially the contracts between migrant and native are sale/purchase contracts. Tenaney contracts become more important after a point of time, and within this broad category there is a shift from fIXed rental contracts being more widely prevalent form to share tenaney over time. An exptontion of the above feature is attempted in this paper. The explanation of the heterogeneity in the contracts is based on differences in the information set on cultivation practices between migront and native. Here, we assume that the native learn the process of cultivation by viewing the migrant cultivate and in the process reducing the difference in information between the migrant and native. Here we postulate that the nature of contracts would depend on differences in information between migrant and native.