The Nexus between Rural-Urban Migration and Child Labour in Agriculture in Delta State Nigeria

Subject Areas : Agricultural Extension

A.U Ofuoku ¹ , B.C Uweru ²

1 - Department of Agricultural Economics and ExtensionDelta State University, Asaba Campus P.M.B 95074 Asaba, Delta State Nigeria
2 - Department of Sociology Delta State University Abraka Campus P.M.B 1, Abraka, Delta State, Nigeria

Received: 2015-01-18 Accepted : 2015-04-25 Published : 2015-05-10

Keywords: Rural-Urban Migration, Child labour, Farm Labour, Child Activities,

Abstract :

This study was conducted in Delta State Nigeria to establish a nexus between rural-urban migration and child labour. Random sampling was applied to select rural settlements and this study covers 450 sample farming households. The results show that rural-urban migration influence child labour (P <0.05). They also show that rural-urban mitigation positively influences child involvement in household farm work and farm wage work (P <0.05). It indicated that rural-urban migration prevents children from consistent attendance to school as it negatively related with schooling of these children (P<10). It is recommended that infrastructural development of rural areas be embarked upon, basic education be made compulsory and parents should be educated on how to schedule the children’s farm work and schooling to avoid conflict; and extension agents should raise awareness of young adults on the benefit of engaging in agricultural practice.

References:

1)         Asamu, F. F. (2005). Poverty and child labour in Nigeria: Challenges for youth development in the 21st century. A paper presented at the international Conference on Challenges of Human Development in the 21st century Africa. Organized by Covenant University, Otta, Ogun State, Nigeria. June 27.

2)         Ashagrie, K. (1997). Statistics on child labour: A brief report bulletin of labour statistics. Geneva: ILO 2-5.

3)         Ekong, E. E. (2003). An introduction to rural sociology Uyo, Nigeria: Dove Educational Publishers.

4)         Eswaran, M. (1996). Fertility, literacy and the Institution of child labour. British Columbia: Mimeo University and British Columbia.

5)         Gautam, T. R. (1999). Labour Migration to India: A Case of Kandebash VDC, Baglung, A dissertation Submitted to Sociology/Anthropology, T.U., Kirtipur.

6)         ILO. (2004). Child labour in Agriculture. Geneva: International Labour Organization.

7)         ILO. (2010). Child labour in Agriculture Geneva International Labour Organization.

8)         Meerza, S. I. A. (2010) Rural-urban migration and its consequences on rural children: An empirical study. Asian Social Science, 6(12),176-181.

9)         Ofuoku, A. U and Chukwuji, C. O. (2012). Impact of rural-urban migration on plantation agriculture in the Niger Delta Region, Nigeria. Journal of Rural Social Sciences, 27(1), 137-151.

10)     Okpara, J. O. (1983). The impact of migration on the quality of Nigeria rural life. Nigerian Agricultural Research Management and Training Institute. Seminar Series, 3:116

11)     Qin, H. (2010). Rural to urban labour migration household livelihoods, and the rural environment in Chongqing Municipality, South West China. Human Ecology, 38:675-690.

12)     Salmon, C. (2005). Child labour in Bangladesh: Are children the last economic resources of the household? University of Savoie, France: Sage Publication.

13)     Tadaro, M. P. (1976). Internal migration in Developing countries: A world Employment study. Geneva: ILO.

14)     UNICEF. (2006).Child labour. Information sheet Nigeria: UNICEF Nigeria.

15)     Von Braun, J. (2004). Towards a renewed focus on rural development. Agriculture and Rural Development, 11(2): 4-6.