Perceived Impact of Rural-Urban Migration on Agricultural Productivity in Nanumba South District of Northern Region

Abstract

This study examined perceptions of sending communities’ members with regards to causes of out-migration and its effect on agriculture from the perceptions of the non-migrants left behind in migrant sending communities in the Nanumba South District in the Northern Region, Ghana. Many studies in Ghana have focused on the causes and consequences of rural-urban migration in the destination communities without considering how the phenomenon affects the lives of the non-migrants left at the places of origin and their economic activities of which agriculture is the major activity. The framework for analysis of causes of rural-urban migration was the push and pull and the New Economics of Labour Migration (NELM) (migration as a risk aversion strategy) theories whilst the livelihood strategies and outcomes framework was used to analyse the effects. The research design that was adopted for the study was comparative case study. The sample size was made up of 400 farmers within the Nanumba South District, selected through multistage sampling procedure. The first stage involved clustering the district into two, namely ‘Overseas’ and ‘Mainland’ areas. ‘Mainland’ represented a high migration area whilst the ‘Overseas’ area is considered low migration area. The second stage involved purposeful selection of 8 communities representing the ethnic diversity of the district. The third stage involved random sampling of households in each of the selected communities. The data analysis is a case study comparing communities with low and high levels of out-migration. Aspects considered are, members’ perception of causes of rural-urban migration and impact of rural-urban migration on agricultural labour availability, land accessibility and availability and agricultural performance. The study found that all the three theoretical causes of out-migration were perceived to cause out-migration in the district. The pull factors however were stronger followed by the push factors and finally migration as a risk aversion strategy. The impact of out-migration on agriculture included decreased household sources of agricultural labour in both low and high migration communities resulting in high level use of hired labour for farm activities. It is concluded that out-migration affects agricultural productivity negatively resulting in lower farm incomes and food. As a result the livelihoods have been less sustainable in high migration areas. The findings suggest that rural-urban migration is underlined by pull, push and risk aversion factors and that out-migration has negative implications for agricultural productivity and livelihoods in the study area. The study recommends that efforts should continue to increase income growth, and development of social amenities in the area.