Introduction to Rural-Urban Migration
Rural-urban migration refers to the movement of people from rural areas to urban areas in search of greener pastures. The word greener pasture is an idiomatic expression that means a better source of livelihood.
It could also be referred to as the movement of able-bodied young men from rural area to urban area in search of white or green-collar jobs.
These able-bodied young men move to the urban areas because of inadequate basic amenities such as water supply, electricity, good schools, construction of feeder roads, health centers, schools, markets, and so on in the rural areas.
The movement of these young men due to inadequate basic amenities has drastically affected the development of the rural area.
These able-bodied’ young men believe that staying in the rural area is for the aged and downtrodden individuals. They move to the urban area without vocational skills and certificates to find a well-paid job in the urban area.
In a bit, to feel belong, some engage in different forms of social vices such as kidnapping, armed robbery, prostitution, human trafficking, and so on to earn a living.
The effort of the government, non-governmental organizations, and philanthropies to improve rural agricultural development in West Africa and Nigeria, particularly by providing essential amenities such as water supply, construction of feeder roads, health centers, schools, markets, and so on has not yielded the expected result.
Micro organizations in rural areas have resulted in the use of semi or unskilled labor, only a few commercial farms have access to the use of modern implements and machines.
Because of these simple facts, the movement of these labor forces from the rural to the urban area has a drastic impact on rural development
Causes of Rural-Urban Migration
The level of development in the urban area, and the abundance of social amenities, good houses, industries, and opportunities in the urban area account for the rapid population increases.
Population growth without commensurate resources has resulted in negative economic, social, and environmental consequences experienced in the urban area today. Some of the causes of rural-urban migration around the globe are:
The Need for Health Care
The need for better health services accounts for rural-urban thrift across the globe. Most healthcare services in the rural area are deplorable, and poor state.
Access to good hospitals, clinics, and health services is generally easier and better provided in urban centers.
Therefore people with critical health challenges prefer living close to this area where they can easily access a doctor within minutes rather than traveling and spending hours, days, and months before seeing a Doctor.
In rural areas, where there are poor health care services, people prefer traveling to urban centers to have quality access to health care services.
More so people with critical health problems that cannot be handled in the rural can also be referred to urban areas for effective treatment.
In the urban settlement, there is easy access to public enlightenment campaigns and health information from media agents such as newspapers, radio, magazines, and television which may be used to communicate information about the spread, prevention, and control of certain outbreaks of epidemics to the general public.
The Need for Education
Access to quality education and educational activities is more readily available to people in urban settlements than in rural areas.
In cities, students have opportunities to interact with better educational facilities than in rural areas. Inadequate schools and instructional personnel in rural areas may force people to migrate to urban areas where they can have access to quality education.
Colleges, polytechnics, and universities are established in the cities and offer a variety of educational courses to students. Students in the urban area take advantage of the access to information to make better choices for their future careers.
Educational services, in general, are better provided in urban areas than in rural. Hence, parents, and guidance with good taste in education prefer moving and sending their children to urban settlements where they can easily access quality teachers, access to laboratory facilities, and a serine environment to equip the children with the necessary skills and competence to survive and contribute to national development.
More so, In the urban settlement, students have access to information about current developments in the education sector such as scholarships, grants, or donations from spirited individuals that they have access to in the funding of their education. All these could lead to the causes of rural-urban migration.
Employment Opportunities and a Better Working Environment
This is another cause of rural-urban migration across the globe. People in urban settlements have access to better working conditions and employment opportunities than people in rural areas.
In cities, opportunities abound more than in rural areas. Graduates or individuals with special skills may choose to establish their firm, run their own business, or opt for employment opportunities to earn a living.
However, government grants and loans for small and medium-scale enterprises are better accessed by those in the urban area compared to those dwelling in the rural area.
Offices in the urban area are better equipped with office facilities and garget whereas those in the rural area are dilapidated and poorly equipped.
In the rural area, lucrative jobs are limited which forces educated and skilled rural dwellers to seek jobs in urban areas.
Jobs in rural areas are mostly agricultural Jobs, and few nonagricultural jobs usually for self or family sustenance, and even when they are employed, labor salaries or wages are very small. Hence, rural dwellers are forced to move to urban areas in search of better-paying jobs
The discovery of crude oil in Nigeria in 1956 brought about a lot of change in urban areas due to the movement of people from rural areas to urban areas in search of jobs. The rural area was deserted leaving agriculture for the old suffered a great blow.
Natural Hazards
Natural hazards and Uncertainty such as floods, wide fire, and hurricanes may occur and displace people.
These displaced people may move toward the urban area. Most people dwelling or settled near hazardous areas such as the river bank, and minerals extraction area may be warmed of the impending danger and relocate to the urban area.
Nigeria and other West African countries experience one form of natural uncertainty every year. This warrants the government to create centers for internally displaced people in the urban area, where they can be taken care of and resettled after the incident.
Most of these displaced people never return to their rural area but prefer settling down in the urban settle. Therefore natural hazards are one of the causes of rural-urban migration.
War, Terrorism and Conflict
War, terrorism, and conflict are the major causes of rural-urban migration across the globe, during war, terrorism, or conflict, people may be forced to move from one area to another, and these may be urban areas where there is better security to protect lives and properties.
Across the globe, people are forced to migrate to urban areas due to wars, terrorism, and conflict.
Unfortunately, these people may not return because their houses and property would have been burnt and destroyed. This increases population pressure in the urban area.
The presence of terrorism, unknown gunmen, and farmer-herder clashes in Nigeria, and other West African countries from 2010 to date have displaced many people from the rural areas where the incident is intense to the urban area for safety.
Business Expansion
Most people tend to move from rural to urban areas because of business reasons. There are many business opportunities in the urban area.
The level of business experience in the urban area cannot be available in the rural area. People in rural areas usually always go for cheap goods and services while the urban people go for quality and durable products.
Businesses in rural areas are major retailers for self or family sustenance, selling in small quantities.
Therefore expansion from retail to wholesale will require movement to urban areas. Most industries producing, processing, and packaging agricultural produce are located in urban areas where the products are cheap. Businesses are located close to this industry where they always get cheap goods to supply to others that are far away in other to make a profit.
Economic reasons
The level of hardship experienced by some people in rural areas may force them to migrate to urban areas in search of a better life.
Certain prevailing economic indexes like prevailing in the rural area like low remuneration associated with village jobs, high cost of transportation in rural areas, and the cost of living in some rural areas are very high and this may force the rural dwellers are a force to move the urban area for a better life.
The cost of seeking health services, education, and buying goods in rural areas is very high making life difficult for rural people.
Effect of Rural-Urban Migration
Some of the impacts of rural-urban migration are:
The Poor and Polluted Environment
The movement of people from rural to urban areas increases the population of the urban centers, leading to poor sanitation and a polluted environment.
Poor sanitation resulting from inadequate wastewater disposal, pit latrines, and septic tanks overflowing without appropriate channels or methods of disposal may result in serious health challenges in the urban area.
Inadequate means of waste disposal and pollution from industries and vehicles can negatively impact the environment.
Inadequate housing, poor environment, and living conditions can lead to serious disease outbreaks in urban areas. During rainfall, overflowing pit latrines, septic tanks, and contaminated water flow into river bodies and sources of drinking water which are dangerous to aquatic life, and could easily lead to the spread of waterborne disease.
In Nigeria, and some other African countries, their urban areas are characterized by these types of overflowing wastewater, septic tanks, and pit latrines which can pose serious health challenges to human and aquatic life.
Shortage or Scarcity of Farm Labour
Business and Agriculture in Nigeria and other West Africa depend mainly on family labor and simple farm tools. The movement of able-bodied’ young men and women from the rural to the urban areas has impacted negatively on the agricultural development and other micro industries in the rural area.
This has resulted in a scarcity of labor in rural areas, such that it may take a day to search for labor that will work on a small portion of land.
This movement has affected the number of able-bodied young men and women available for agriculture.
Engaging laborers for agricultural activities in rural or urban areas is becoming very difficult. Even when they are available to secure their altitude to work is poor and discouraging.
High-Cost Labour
Rural-urban migration has led to the High Cost of Farm Labour in the rural areas where agriculture takes place.
The amount of money spent on preparing one hectare of land to receive crops ten years ago will be 100 percent higher than what it takes now.
The amount of money spent by agro-industries and farmers paying for labor has doubled. Farmers that cannot afford to pay for this high cost of labor will resort to the use of family labor which will affect food productivity.
Poor Quality of Labour in Rural Areas
Poor quality of labor is one of the problems of rural-urban migration. The quality of labor in rural areas due to scarcity of manpower has resulted in low agricultural productivity.
Low quality of laborers has resulted in low quality of work done on the farm. Most of the time there is usually no value for the money spent on labor due to the poor quality of labor sourced.
Decrease in Food Production / Food Scarcity
Rural-urban migration has led to a decrease in food production. The expanse of land that was planned to be prepared and cultivated will not be achieved due to the scarcity and high cost of labor courtesy of rural-urban migration.
Even to source for labor to maintain or cultivate crops when due, is becoming very difficult, as a result of this many farmers and agro-industries have abandoned their farms because of inadequate labor, which will eventually lead to food scarcity
Decrease in Export
The scarcity of labor coupled with the high cost of labor has reduced agricultural productivity. The unavailability of labor has reduced the quantities and qualities of crops harvested per unity area of the farm.
The area of land to be cultivated per farmer has also been reduced because of inadequate labor. All these have reduced the exportation of crops to other countries.
Inadequate Supply of Raw Materials to Agro-Industries
Rural-urban migration has resulted in the Inadequate Supply of Raw Materials to Agro-Industries due to the limited area of land cultivated per unit areas by the farmers and agro-industries.
Agro-industrial crops are usually cultivated in large areas of land. The labor needed to maintain these large areas of land is not available due to the Scarcity of labor, this has reduced the production and supply of raw materials to agro-industries.
Poor Adoption of Agricultural Innovation
Agile and able-bodied young men who are known to risk trying innovations have migrated to the urban areas, leaving the farming occupation to the aging farming population who are skeptical about trying innovations.
Some of these aged men and women have accepted the old methods of farming as the normal methods of farming therefore whatever innovation you deliver to them, that doesn’t comply with old methods is rejected or dies on arrival.
Inadequate basic amenities such as such as water supply, electricity, good schools, construction of feeder roads, health centers, schools, markets
Unemployment: and so on in the rural area. The movement of these young men due to inadequate basic amenities has drastically affected the labor force in the rural area.
Increase in Crime Rate
In the urban center, there are gigantic buildings, big businesses and companies, rich businessmen and women, and people of many classes and religions which are not beneficial to all, this imbalance between the rich and poor in the urban center together with a lack of jobs makes people indulge in illegal activities such as theft, drugs and prostitution.
Easy Spread of Pests and Disease.
Due to their proximity to each other, diseases and pests can spread faster in the urban area compared to the rural.
Airborne and waterborne diseases due to populated and contaminated environments easily spread from one to another leading to premature deaths. Poor environmental conditions coupled with polluted air can result in respiratory disease and contribute to serious health challenges among vulnerable people in urban centers
Solutions to Rural-Urban Migration
The rural area can be revived and thrive like the urban center if the government concentrates, and develops the rural area to improve economic development.
Proper development of the rural area will reduce some of the factors that cause rural-urban migration. Some of the factors that can reduce the push for people to migrate away are:
- Subsidize farm input: food production is majorly done in rural areas, and due to the high cost of farm input farmers find it difficult to acquire these inputs to boost food production. Farm inputs such as fertilizer, improved varieties and breeds of farm animals, agrochemicals, and animal feed are necessary for food production. Most farmers do not have the resources to acquire these farm inputs to boost food production. If these farm inputs are subsidized by the government, it will help reduce the cost of food production and discourage rural-urban migration.
- Improve Land Tenure Policy: land tenure refers to the system of ownership and acquisition. The land tenure system prevailing in some areas discourages strangers and commercial farmers from acquiring land and investing in agriculture. Land tenure systems like rent, inheritance, pledges, and individual ownership discourage people from investing in agriculture or establishing businesses in rural areas. If the governments improve the land ownership system it will encourage rural dwellers to venture into agriculture and reduce rural-to-urban migration.
- Loan Opportunities for Rural Dwellers: The government and non –non-governmental organizations should give rural dwellers financial support to assist small and medium business owners and farmers to encourage rural development. Increasing financial assistance for rural dwellers can support farmers and business owners to expand farming businesses and reduce rural–urban migration.
- Provide Vocational and Skill Acquisition Centers in the Rural Area: Many rural people do not have the skills to be self-reliant or self –sustenance. In other, to earn a living they migrate to the urban area for menial jobs. The establishment of skill and vocational centers will help rural people acquire skills, and competence to set up their businesses to earn a living thereby preventing movement to the urban area.
- Establishment of Essential Service Rural Area: the establishment of essential services like Higher Institutions, Industries, and hospitals in the rural area will offer greater employment opportunities for rural dwellers and improve rural development.
- Establishments of Entertainment and Recreation Centers: establishments of entertainment and recreational centers in rural can help discourage rural people from migrating to the urban area.
- Improve Rural Road Network: construction of good roads in rural will improve Public Transportation to and fro the rural area. With this good road network, rural dwellers can easily move to the urban area and return to the rural as quickly as possible.
Frequently Ask Questions
Some of the related questions that google users often ask concerning this rural-urban migration are:
What are the push factors and pull factors of migration?
What are the main causes of rural-urban migration?
The main causes of rural-urban migration are arranged in other severity. They include: insecurity (War, terrorism, conflict, and social unrest), Natural disasters (such as floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, and tornados), Employment, educational opportunities, and food insecurity