GHARM, August 26, 2008, Asia-Plus  -- Rising prices of basic food products and lack of jobs have intensified migration in the Rasht Valley, eastern Tajikistan.  

According to administrations of districts in the Rasht Valley, local residents are leaving for the CIS states, primarily Russia, seeking better employment opportunities despite of creation of new jobs and establishment of farming units in the rejoin.  

Thus, 3,363 residents of the Tavildara district have left for Russia over the first six months of this year.  Other 140 persons left the district in July. 

According to official data, as of August 1, some 25,000 people, mainly men, have left the Rasht Valley for the Russia Federation in search of seasonal work.  

Local authorities say that labor migrants are a critical component in the economies of districts in eastern Tajikistan and remittances keep many families in the region above the poverty line. 

“If to taken into account that an average monthly remittance amounts to $500, it turns out that labor migrants send to banks in the Rasht Valley some $12.5 million per month,” the source said.