International Journal of Pure and Applied Sciences and Technology

Transcription

1 Int. J. Pure Appl. Sci. Technol., 14(2) (2013), pp International Journal of Pure and Applied Sciences and Technology ISSN Available online at Research Paper Assessment of Benefits Associated with Rural-Urban Migration among Non-Migrants in Odeda Area, Ogun State, Nigeria Adetayo K. Aromolaran Department of Agricultural Extension and Rural Development, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria Corresponding author, (Received: ; Accepted: ) Abstract: In most rural areas, rural-urban migration results to rapid deterioration of the rural economy leading to chronic poverty and food insecurity. This study identifies the benefits of rural urban migration from the perception of the non-migrants in three purposively selected rural communities in Odeda, Ogun State, Nigeria. Results showed that most (73.3%) of the respondents were male, married (78.9%) with an average age of 47.3 years, who had lived in the study area for an average of 11.5 years. This study revealed that perceived factors that mainly caused rural urban migration include: advances in education opportunity (93.3%), boredom in agriculture (74.4%), unemployment (71.1%) and expulsion due to offence or crime (68.9%). Correlation analysis showed that non-migrants socio-economic characteristics do not influence their perception of the benefits of rural urban migration while Chi-square analysis revealed that the perception of non-migrants on benefits from rural - urban migration is influenced mainly by the marital circumstances of the rural non-migrant (p < 0.05).This study therefore proposes that good schools and functional social amenities should be provided in the rural areas. Agro-allied industries must be set-up in the rural areas to provide jobs opportunities; agricultural inputs and farming technologies should be introduced to the rural people to improve the production level. It is therefore recommended that any measure seeking to influence the process of rural urban migration should consider the rural peoples perception of benefits of the rural urban migration. Keywords: Perceived Benefits, Non-migrants, Factors, Rural-Urban Migration

2 Int. J. Pure Appl. Sci. Technol., 14(2) (2013), Introduction In most rural areas in Nigeria, the potential labour force that could have contributed to the improvement of the rural economy has moved into the cities and nearby towns around them in search of better standards of living and benefits they presumed could exist in urban centres. The movement of these people from rural to urban centres poses problems to both rural and urban dwellers, but migrants are more concerned about the benefits they would derive from the process. Braunvan (2004) opines that people tend to be pulled to the areas of prosperity and pushed from areas of decline. Migrants leave their family members behind in the rural areas and those non-migrants left behind have their opinion of the rural to urban migration process. The opinion of these non-migrants has effects on further movement of people into the urban areas to seek benefits they accrued to the process. This has caused excessive drain of human resources and deterioration of rural economy in the rural areas. Some of these perceived benefits attract more of the non-migrants left behind in the rural area to the cities. Yet, this category of stakeholders in the rural-urban migration process is not often the focus in most policy making debates influencing the process. This study intends to explore the perception of this group on the process of rural urban migration, with a view to identifying new benefits ascribed to rural urban migration from their experience as a migrant s family member. The specific objectives of this study were to: 1. Describe the socio-economic characteristics of migrants family members resident in rural communities 2. Examine the various factors affecting rural-urban migration from the perception of the migrants family members left behind in the rural area. 3. Identify the benefits of rural-urban migration from perception of the migrant s family members residing in the rural area. 4. dentify possible solutions to address rural urban migration from perception of migrants family members in the rural area. The study also tested the null hypothesis that: H 0 : There is no significant relationship between selected socio-economic characteristics of nonmigrants and their perception of benefits derived from rural-urban migration. 2. Materials and Methods The study was carried out in Odeda Local Government Area (LGA) of Ogun State. The LGA is located in the northern end of Ogun State sharing boundaries with Iddo LGA of Oyo State in the North, Abeokuta South LGA in the South, Obafemi/Owode LGA in the East and Yewa North LGA in the West. The headquarters of the LGA are at Odeda on the on the A5 highway N E.It has an area of 1,560 km² and a population of 109,449 people at the 2006 census. The people of Odeda were predominantly farmers who engaged in small scale farming. The major food crops of the area include cassava, yam, cocoyam, plantain, maize and vegetables, while cocoa is the major cash crop. In recent times however, the people of the area have engaged themselves in quarry business, trading, craft and artisan works, however, agric - based industries take a lead among known economic activities. Odeda is located close to cities such as Ibadan, Abeokuta, Sango-Otta and Lagos which encouraged rural - urban migration in Odeda Local Government Area. Sampling Procedure and Sample Size: Odeda LGA is divided into 3 broad political areas namely: Opeji, Ilugun and Odeda. Simple random sampling was used to select one settlement in each of the areas. The selected settlements are

3 Int. J. Pure Appl. Sci. Technol., 14(2) (2013), Obantoko, Osiele and Olodo in Opeji, Ilugun and Odeda area respectively. The snowball method was used to select 30 respondents in each settlement. The snowball method is usually to draw a sample from a population when it is physically difficult to locate the members of such population. In this case, it is difficult for an outsider in a particular community to know which families have a migrant characteristic or know the socio-economic characteristics of any member of the migrants family left behind in the rural area. Data were collected by the use of a pretested (using the test-retest method) interview guide to elicit information from the migrants family left behind in the rural area. Measurement of Variables: The important variables measured were: Perceived benefits was measured on the basis of 5 point scale ranging from Strongly Agree = 5, Agree = 4, Undecided = 3 Disagreed = 2 Strongly Disagree =1. Perceived benefits scores were thus calculated for respondents. Factors affecting rural urban migration. The respondents were asked to agreed or disagree with the listed perceived factors of rural to urban migration. Possible solution to rural to urban migration. The respondents were asked to indicate as many as possible solutions they could, which may perhaps address problem of rural to urban migration and ranked them. Frequencies and percentages were employed in data analysis. (Correlation and Chi-square analyses were used to test the relationship between total benefit score and selected socio-economic characteristics). 3. Results and Discussion Personal Characteristics of Respondents Table 1 show that majority (73.3%) of the respondents were male and 78.7% were married with age range of years. This implies that there were a higher proportion of male, middle-aged young men who had rural - urban migrants in their family. Also 31.1% of the respondents had no formal education while the rest had between adult, elementary, secondary and tertiary education. Most were indigenes (66.7%) while 33.3% were non-indigenes. This means that the indigene could say more about the effects of rural-urban migration in the study area since they were born in the study area. Non-indigenes were able to give information on the rural urban migration in the areas because they had spent a relatively long period (about 12 years) in the study area. These findings are similar to Agesa (2001) findings on the socio-economic and demographic characteristics (Marital status, age, gender and educational status) of the rural migrants household. Table 1: Selected Socio-Economic Characteristics of Respondents Variables Mean Mode Age (in years) years 84.4% years Sex Education Status Native Status 73.3% male 31.1% No formal education 66.7% Indigene Length of residence years 63.34% Less than 10 years Marital Status 78.9% Married

4 Int. J. Pure Appl. Sci. Technol., 14(2) (2013), Factors Affecting Rural-Urban Migration Table 2 revealed perception of non-migrants on important factors that could cause rural-urban migration. Some of the perceived factors were related to education needs (93.3%) and acquisition of skills in various vocations (72.2%).Other factors were related to means of livelihood; these include unemployment (71.1%), absence of industries and companies (68.9%) and boredom in agriculture (74.4%). Some social factors associated with the living condition in rural areas were also mentioned which consist of inadequate social amenities (68.2%) and expulsion from rural areas due to an offence or crime committed by the migrant (68.9). Moreover, migrants family members left in the rural areas also revealed that report of cities condition (44.4%) and joining their relative in town (55.6%) were also responsible for the movement of the migrants. Most of the available literature on factors responsible for rural to urban migration (William, 1970; Mabawonku, 1973; Sabot, 1972; Adewale, 2005) stressed educational factor, unemployment and only inadequate social amenities. It is interesting that 68.9% and 55.6% of the non-migrants opine that expulsion due to an offence or crime committed by the migrant and joining one relation in town could be the reason for migration. Expulsion of migrants due to offence is one of new factors found by this study and it is possible that the focus of several earlier studies on migrants as the unit of study and analysis had concealed this reason as factors affecting rural urban migration. Table 2: Factors Perceived to cause Rural Urban Migration (N = 90) Perceived factors Yes No Advancing in Education Opportunity Apprenticeship in Various Vocation Unemployment Report of cities condition sent by Migrant Absence of Industries/Companies Old Age Joining One s Relative in Town Inadequate Social Amenities Expulsion due to offence or crime To avoid the boredom in Agriculture Perceived Benefits of Rural Urban Migration The respondents were asked to express their opinion of the benefits of rural-urban migration in a Likert-type scale containing 25 statements divided into 5 groups (Table 3.) The groups are: Economic, Agricultural, Personal, Cultural and Societal benefits and each group contains five items. On the economic front, the item for which there is a clear decision by the respondents is that migrants help in the payment of school fees of other members of the family who are in school. Over 70% of the respondents agreed or strongly agreed with this statement. This is in line with Ghosh (2006) who opines that migrants remit part of their earnings homes to contribute to household welfare, such remittances are often used for the consumption of basic subsistence goods, including food, investments in education, health and other productive spending. Of the five statements offered in the group of Agricultural benefits, over 80% of the respondents agreed or strongly agreed that the

5 Int. J. Pure Appl. Sci. Technol., 14(2) (2013), movement of a member of the family to an urban location frees more land space for farming in the rural areas. Respondents also agreed or strongly agreed with two statements of Personal benefits that it makes them happy that there is a migrant in the family (87.8%) and that it boosts their morale (81.1%).Two other benefits with which the respondents agreed or strongly agreed with, are cultural. Over 70% opined that rural-urban migration helps them to appreciate their culture and helps them to understand the culture of other people. Finally, most of the respondents (71.1%) agreed or strongly agreed that migrants bring more investments into the rural economy. Table 3: Perceived Benefits of Rural Urban Migration (N=90) Perceived Benefits SA A U D SD Economic Benefits The migrant help you to pay school fees The migrant pay the house rent Your income increased because he migrated The migrant get better job opportunity The migrant tells you how to get credit facilities in town Agricultural Benefits It provide more land space for farming in rural area The migrant introduce new innovation to the village It helps to locate better market in town for farm products Improved seed varieties are brought by the migrant Migrant taught farmer methods of disease control Personal Benefits You are happy that you have a migrant in your family It increases your morale It increases your property acquisition It relieves you of your responsibility on the migrant It exposes you to new devise and how to operate them Cultural Benefits Rural-urban migrant help us to appreciate our culture Rural-urban migration helps us to abolish bad custom It can change people orientation on ritual making It help us to understand other people culture It exposes our culture to other people Societal Benefits The migrant being more investors to the rural areas Migration makes the culture to be widely known Migrant contribute to the building of town hall Migrant contribute to the construction of village road It makes government to focus on your village SA= strongly agree, A= agree, U = Undecided, D = Disagree, SD = strongly disagree

6 Int. J. Pure Appl. Sci. Technol., 14(2) (2013), Non-Migrants Suggestions to Address Rural Urban Migration Respondents suggested that agricultural inputs should be provided to discourage rural-urban migration. It was ranked 2 nd in the table as well as youth development, empowerment and credit facilities. Most of the respondents suggested that social amenities, job opportunities, farming technology and holding of companies having values of 25.6%, 13.3%, 5.6%, 4.4% respectively, should be provided and it was ranked first in the table. Also, school was ranked first while the construction of road was ranked second; the implication is that migration of people from the ruralurban area will reduce. This would be if the social amenities and job opportunity, farming technology, school and building of companies were provided since they were not solutions ranked as first. The migrants moved because the solution suggested were not present in the rural area. The suggestions were made according to the needs they faced in the rural areas, which constitute the main reason why people migrate to the cities and these makes them to associate benefits to movement to the urban area. Most of the people will like to stay in their places of origin if what they are looking for in the urban is found in their villages. Table 4: Possible solution to address Rural-Urban Migration Suggestion 1 st 2 nd 3 rd 4 th Agriculture inputs Companies should built Conducive condition Provision of Credit facility Farming technology Creation of Job opportunity Good road construction Building of School Social amenities Youth development and empowerment No response Total Test of Hypotheses Null hypothesis was tested in the study. This proposes that there were no significant relationships between selected socio-economic characteristics of non-migrants and their perception of benefits derived from rural-urban migration. The result of correlation analysis between selected economic characteristics and perceived benefits score derived from the non-migrants responses to the statements in the Likert scale shows that there were no significant relationship between non-migrants socio-economic characteristics and their benefit score (Table 5). This seems to imply that non migrants socio-economic characteristics did not influence their perception of benefits of rural urban migration. Table 6 reveals the results of Chi-square analysis of the relationship between the sex, education, native status, marital status and main occupation. The results show that though the null hypotheses were not rejected for sex, education, native status and main occupation, it shows that marital status influences the non-migrants perception of the benefits of rural urban migration. The implication was that the married non-migrants have a more positive perception of the benefits of rural-urban migration than the unmarried ones.

7 Int. J. Pure Appl. Sci. Technol., 14(2) (2013), Table 5: Result of Correlation Analysis (Dependent Variables is Benefit Score) Variables Correlation Coefficient Remark Age (in years) and benefits score NS Length of residence and benefits score NS Number of wives and benefits score NS Number of children and benefits score NS Total household size and benefits score NS Farm income and benefits score NS Off farm income and benefits score NS Remittances and benefits score NS Expenses on food (in Naira/month) and benefits score NS Expenses on house (in Naira/month) and benefits score NS Expenses on health (in Naira/month) and benefits score NS *Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed) Table 6: Result of Chi-square Analyses Variable Chi-square Degree of Freedom Asymptotic Decision Sex Accept Education Accept Native Status Accept Marital Status Reject Main Occupation Accept 4. Conclusion The study is different and unique in that it did not only show the factors affecting rural-urban migration like several previous studies, but also revealed the perception of the non-migrants on benefits they thought they could incur from rural-urban migration. The study has demonstrated that the perception of non-migrants on benefits to be gained from rural-urban migration was influenced mainly by the marital circumstances and length of residence of the rural non-migrant. Therefore, any measures seeking to influence the processes of rural urban migration should meet the rural peoples perception of benefits of the rural-urban migration. The study therefore recommends that functional social amenities such as electricity, pipe borne water and so on should be provided in the rural areas. Good schools and qualified teachers should be made available in the rural areas. Agro-allied industries must be set-up in the rural areas to reduce ruralurban migration in order to provide job opportunities for the people of the rural area. The agricultural inputs and farming technologies should be introduced to the rural people to improve the production level. Good roads should be constructed for the rural area and credit facilities should be provided for the rural people to improve their production level, which will lead to improvement in their standard of living and they will thus stay back in the rural areas. References [1] J.G. Adewale, Socio-economic factors associated with urban-rural migration in Nigeria: A case study of Oyo state, Nigeria, Nigeria Journal of Ecology, 17(1) (2005), [2] R.U. Agesa, Migration and the urban to rural earnings difference: A sample selection approach, Journal of Economic Development and Cultural Change, 49(2001),

8 Int. J. Pure Appl. Sci. Technol., 14(2) (2013), [3] J. Braunvan, Towards a renewed focus on rural development, Agriculture and Rural Development, 11(2) (2004), 4-6. [4] B. Ghosh, Migrants Remittances and Development: Myths, Rhetoric and Realities, Geneva: International Organization for Migration and The Hague Process on Refugees and Migration, (2006). [5] A.F. Mabawonku, The impact of rural-urban migration on the economy of selected rural communities in Western Nigeria, M.Sc. Thesis, Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Ibadan, (1973). [6] S.E. Mini, The Impact of Rural-Urban Migration on Rural Economy in Rural Village, (2001), [7] R.H. Sabot, Education, income distribution, urban migration in Tanzania, University of Dares-Salam, Economic Research Bureau Tanzania, (1972). [8] A.H. William, Population, Migration and Urbanization in Africa, Colombia University Press, Colombia, 1970.