The Effect Of Rural Urban Migration On Agricultural Production In Nigeria

The Effect Of Rural Urban Migration On Agricultural Production In Nigeria

Chapiter 1

Introduction

1.1 The study’s context

Human migration is the movement of individuals from one area to another with the intention of settling there (in a geographic area) either permanently or temporarily. The most frequent kind of international human migration is internal migration, or movement within a single country. [2020 World Migration Report] Access to movement networks and higher levels of human capital at the individual and household levels are usually associated with migratory. An individual, a family, or a big group of people can migrate.[Country-by-country migration, 2015] Invasion, conquest, colonization, and emigration/immigration are the four main categories of migration.[caves, 2004]People who are forcibly displaced from their homes (due to a natural disaster or a civil unrest) may move alone, with their families, or in huge groups. A person seeking refuge in another country may submit a formal application to the country where protection is sought if the reason for leaving their home country is political, religious, or due to another type of persecution. This individual is then known as an asylum seeker. The applicant’s legal status will be changed to refugee if this application is granted. [In recent years, the control of migration has been closely related to national sovereignty. States retain the authority to decide whether to admit and keep certain non-nationals since migration directly affects some of a State’s distinctive traits.

Agriculture is the practice of raising plants and animals. Since agriculture made it possible for people to live in cities by producing food surpluses from domesticated animals, it played a significant role in the development of sedentary human civilization. Agriculture has existed for a very long time—thousands of years. Like other problems related to social change and development, the problem of ruralurban migration and its impact on agricultural growth is a complex one. One thing is certain: continuous inequality in the distribution of social and economic infrastructure, such as piped water, good roads, power, healthcare facilities, and industries, among other things, between rural and urban populations is the fundamental cause of the phenomena of rural-urban migration. This has existed since the time of the colonists. According to Braun (2004), people are attracted to areas of success and pushed away from areas of failure. Typically, migrants are less worried about the challenges they may encounter as a result of the migration process and more worried about the benefits they want to gain by moving. Migration is a historical and natural aspect of human life. But over time, from the need for space in the Middle Ages to the overpopulation in large cities (rural-to-urban migration) in the Modern Era, especially in the Past Century, its pattern has changed considerably. Nigeria has a wealth of natural resources, particularly in its rural areas, that might be utilised for socioeconomic development. Unusually for rising countries, Nigeria has a high proportion of both the rural population and the rural sector (Akande, 2002). The most distinctive aspect of Nigeria’s rural areas is the widespread participation of the population in agriculture. The largest contributor to the GDP of the country is agriculture, followed by the oil industry. The sector contributes roughly 41% of the nation’s GDP, employs about 65% of the total workforce, and provides employment to nearly 80% of the rural population (ADF, 2005). The amount of agricultural and non-agricultural economic activity that occurs in each of Nigeria’s rural and urban areas makes them distinct from one another. As a result, economic activity in rural areas is primarily focused on the exploitation or use of land. Agriculture, animal husbandry, poultry, fishing, forestry, food processing, and the clothing industry make up the majority of its topics. Approximately half of Nigeria’s rural population works in agriculture, according to estimates (Olatunbosun, 1975). Due to an imbalance in investment between rural and urban areas, there are many factors contributing to poor rural employment, low agricultural production, and poor quality of life for rural residents. Some of these factors include a lack of vital economic and social infrastructure, such as roads, power, and health facilities. The comparatively low level of corporate and governmental investments in rural areas serves as evidence that much of the underspending of expected expenditure occurs in this sector. Regrettably, rural inhabitants are burdened by changes in the price of their agricultural products on the world market. As a result, rural residents’ income is losing value. Migration decisions may be influenced by contextual factors such as “push forces,” which drive migrants out from rural areas, and “pull factors,” which lure migrants to urban areas. These variables typically capture the relative health of the local economy (e.g., the availability of public goods) as well as institutional variables like the implementation or enforcement of a system of land property rights, which can act as push factors and encourage displaced workers to leave rural areas (Katz and Stark, 1986). However, the trend in Nigeria’s urban centers is unmistakably toward a preponderance of secondary and tertiary activities. This is true even though the majority of Nigerian urban centers are a mix of two different levels of urbanization: traditional, almost medieval pre-industrial urbanization and advanced, industrial urbanization. Due to the great reliance of the urban on the rural sector and the serious vocational imbalances between rural and urban Nigeria, rural agriculture development must receive more attention. In Nigeria’s rural development, rural-urban migration has long been recognized as a significant problem. However, government initiatives to address it have fallen short (Nwosu, 1979; Makinwa, 1975 & 1988). The biggest problem in farming has by far been low production. The fact that a sizable fraction of Nigerians now work in non-agricultural occupations in the cities has made this problem worse (Nwosu, 1979). As a result, the situation with regard to food security in Nigeria and other African countries has been worse over time, and a large number of people today experience hunger and malnutrition (Ijiako, 1999). The process of migration, especially rural-to-urban movement, has significant effects on food production, agricultural exports, rural demand for manufactured goods, and potential future agricultural surpluses that could be invested in other areas of the economy. Rural-urban migration, which occurs as poor young people pursue white collar employment in cities, results in the loss of staff essential for agricultural expansion in rural areas. Before the discovery of oil, agriculture was the backbone of Nigeria’s economy, but it has since been marginalized, leading to the mono-economy status of the nation. Migration from rural areas to cities has caused the rural economy to rapidly deteriorate, which has led to persistent poverty and food insecurity (Mini, 2001). The Nigerian government’s efforts to expand the agriculture sector over the past three decades have not been successful in bolstering the economy of the nation. An examination of the sector presents a dismal picture. Even if retail food prices and import costs have increased, environmental degradation, growing food deficits, and reductions in both gross domestic product and export revenues are all signs of poor performance. These effects have further reduced smallholder farmers’ incomes, entangling them in a web of poverty. In the past, the government has implemented a variety of projects and programs aimed at limiting the flow of migrants from rural to urban areas due to concerns about this scenario. The bulk of federal government initiatives fell short, in large part because the problem and the target audience for programs designed to influence migration were not sufficiently defined. The “farm settlement projects,” which were fashioned after the Israeli Moshav, involved building rural dwellings with urban amenities (electricity and pipe-borne water supply) and giving primary school graduates access to contemporary farming equipment.

1.2 Description of the research problem

Rural to urban migration occurs when young and aged people leave rural areas for cities in search of better jobs, economic chances, and educational prospects. Unprecedented migration of people from the rural countryside to urban metropolis is represented by the phenomena of rural-urban migration. The able-bodied youth who should assist in cultivating and tilling farmlands are moving to urban regions, which has caused a scarcity in food supply. As a result, this movement has an impact on agricultural productivity. The abandoning of farmland, a shrinking labor force, decreased agricultural production, which results in lower farm income and food, etc., are further effects of rural-to-urban migration. The study’s discussion of the impact of rural-to-urban migration on Nigerian agricultural output will take place against this background.

1.3 The study’s objectives

The following is the study’s main goal:

to learn the causes of Nigerians’ migration from rural to urban areas.

To determine how Nigeria’s agricultural production is impacted by rural-to-urban migration

To ascertain ways to boost agricultural output in Nigeria in the face of migration

To learn ways to prevent migration from rural to urban areas in Nigeria by developing rural areas more

1.4 Hypothesis for the study

H1: In Nigeria, there are no justifications for people to move from rural to urban areas.

H1: There are causes for Nigerians to move from rural to urban regions.

H02: In Nigeria, migration prevents agricultural production from rising.

H1:Agricultural production in Nigeria can be increased despite migration

1.5 Importance of the research

This study’s importance should not be understated because:

This study will look at how rural-urban migration affects agricultural output in Nigeria.

The results of this study will surely give government agencies, the ministry of agriculture, and the academic community crucial information.

1.6 Study’s purview

The impact of rural-to-urban migration on Nigeria’s agricultural output will be investigated in this study. Therefore, Katsina state’s rural residents will serve as the case study group.

1.7 Research limitations

The following are some of the variables that limited this study:

the same problems that plague other types of research, such as the lack of pertinent, up-to-date information on the subject and the inability to collect data

The researcher encountered financial limitations when procuring pertinent resources, printing surveys, and compiling them.

Time is a factor that also poses limitations because the researcher must juggle writing the research and doing other academic work, which is uncomfortable.

1.8 Definitions of terminology used operationally

The movement of animals from one area to another is known as migration.

Agriculture production includes raising any farm animals, including farmed elk, whether or not those animals are to be sold commercially. It also includes the production of any growing grass or crop linked to the surface of the ground.