An Overview: Impact of rural urban migration on agriculture

By: Erastus Ngaruka, Technical Advisor: Livestock and Rangeland Management

Rural-urban migration refers to the movement of people from rural to urban areas, or simply from villages to towns or cities. This migration is triggered by several socioeconomic factors, such as employment, business, education, and health, among others. In Namibia, the phenomenon is particularly conspicuous, as evidenced by the influx of people from rural to urban areas in recent years in search of better opportunities, mainly for employment and education, amongst others. Some people also travel beyond Namibian borders and immigrate to developed countries across the globe in search of better economic opportunities to sustain their livelihoods.

Urban areas are perceived to provide better livelihood opportunities because of the myriad of larger-scale developmental and economic activities that take place. However, urban areas in Namibia are characterized by an increasing cost of living attributed to domestic and international economic eventualities, increasing commodity prices, and climate change that continue to threaten sustainable livelihoods in the country.

Moreover, the current economic conditions, global tensions, and the COVID-19 pandemic, among other factors, have exacerbated society’s vulnerability to poverty, thus prompting further rural-to-urban migration of people in search of better economic opportunities. This migration has a negative impact on agricultural production as it results in a decrease in the rural population; thus, critical agricultural skills and the labor force are moved out of production areas. Ultimately, this reduces potential and sustainable agricultural productivity, especially at the household level. In addition, the scarcity or poor supply of water and electricity, including their high maintenance costs, has become a burden in rural areas, and this has led to the abandonment of some agricultural activities.

Agriculture in Namibia is an economic pillar supporting all livelihoods in the form of food, employment, and income and constitutes the main economic activity in rural areas, either for subsistence or on a commercial basis. A reduction in agricultural productivity negatively affects food systems in the country, threatening food self-sufficiency and food security. Moreover, local food demand increases and affordability becomes impossible for the vulnerable. This in turn exerts tremendous pressure on the provision of food, and other services such as land, water, and sanitation in urban areas. At large, the reduction in agricultural productivity in the country results in increased spending on imports by the country to meet local food demand.

Moreover, government feeding initiatives such as school feeding programs and the food bank may not be sustainable if local food production is not enhanced to fill the gap. Thus, to ensure food self-sufficiency and food security in Namibia, local food production is key, and this can be achieved through programs aimed at promoting and assisting local food production in rural areas by providing appropriate support to individual and community projects in the form of skills, knowledge, materials, land improvement, value addition, and market access.

To this end, all stakeholders, including local authorities in urban areas, have critical roles to play in reducing rural-urban migration through coordinated efforts aimed at promoting agricultural projects in rural areas. To ensure the sustainability of these projects, local markets, which can include government institutions such as schools, hospitals, and prisons, among others, may have to be developed to absorb the produce, and in addition, critical support services such as water and electricity should be well developed to aid in the reduction of the cost of production.

Lastly, agriculture is key to ensuring economic development and sustainable livelihoods in the country, and it should be cultivated deep in the education system as one of the compulsory subjects from the primary level onwards. The rural development agenda needs to stimulate economic activities aimed at sustainable food production and market linkages and to retain the skills and labor force in rural areas.