Seasonal migration of labour to Bahir Down Town and other rural areas is found to bernan imporrant component of the livelihood strategies of people living in the study area.rnThis srudy aimed at examining the opportunities and challenges of seasonal migration ofrnlabour on the livelihoods of migrant people. To generate the necessOlY data, bothrnqualitative and quantitative techniques were employed.Seasona! - out-migration of labour in the study area is undertaken by many ruralrnhouseholds so as to diversify households' portfolios, save and invest in rural areas, andrnreduce risk and vulnerability. The remittances obtainedfrom this type of migration havernserved rural households to supplement their income .from agriculture and alleviate thernproblem of land shortage and landlessness. In addition to the remittances, labourrnmigrants bring back home some kind of items such as household utensils, consumablerngoods, clothes and educational materials. They are positively contributing to therndevelopment of the recipient area by supplying cheap labour power. On the other hand,rnthey exert pressure on social services in the town, increase unemployment, and polluternthe environment. The major factors that drive rural people to migrate for seasonal wagernearning employment are attributed to economic, social and cultural factors. Thernavailability of employment opportunities at destination and the attractiveness of thernpayment appear to be another major pull factor of seasonal out-migration of labour. Thernstream of seasonal out-migration of labour is.predominantly carried out to rural areas ofrnother region. AI[ost of them have earlier experiences of out-migration either to the samernplace or in other areas and they prefer rural to urban areas for their future out-migrationrnand permanent residence. Migrants usually stay at destination .from ]-5 months and thernmajority migrate in September as this time is the peak labour demanding time at therndestination. Because of their short stay at the destination, the skill acquired by migrantsrnis negligible. The major problems in which labour migrants often face during theirrnj ourney and at the destination are inability to get social services, social discrimination,rnlabour exploitation, exposure to illnesses, misleading information, shortage ofrntransportation, and robbery.By considering the positive contribution of off-farm seasonal wage employment towardsrnimproving the livelihoods of the rural poor, the rural development strategy should berndirected towards promoting a policy that maximizes the benefits incurred ji-om labourrnmigration and minimizes the risks and challenges associated with it. There is also a needrn(0 consider labour migration as an alternative livelihood option for the poor ruralrnhouseholds in increasing assets, reducing poverty and alleviqting the problem ofrnfarmland IJnd landlessness