Deciding to Urban-Migrate and Agricultural Development: Evidence from the Millennium Challenge Account (MCC)-Millennium Development Authority (MiDA) Intervention Zones, Ghana

Abstract

The decision to migrate involves both “push” and “pull” factors. Push factors force migrants out of rural areas while pull factors attract rural folks to the urban areas. The information set which displays the realities on the ground, if positive will motivate a potential migrant to move to an urban area and vice versa. Movement of labour for agriculture in the rural areas decreases resources needed to help promote the needed growth in the sector. With a sample size of 46,110 household members from two batches (about 3000 farmers/households for each batch) of selected farmers who enjoyed agricultural interventions (technology), a probit model is estimated to find the factors that influence the decision to urban-migrate. In particular we discuss the question of whether the MiDA intervention through the training of farmers on various techniques/technologies to be more productive, has had an impact on farmers’ as well as their household members’ decision to urban-migrate. Generally, household, Farmer Based Organization and individual characteristics were considered in the model. We find that, farmers and their household members in the Southern Horticultural belt were less likely to migrate while those in the Northern Agricultural Zone were more likely to migrate to the urban area. Education, households with returned migrants, and remittances were positive in influencing the decision to urban-migrate. On the other hand, being self-employed and being married reduces the probability that an individual will migrate. Generally, the differential economic opportunities through the relative increased knowledge in the urban areas remain a pull factor of labour resources of the undeveloped rural agricultural sector. Bridging the gap between the expected income differential of rural and urban areas resulting from differences in knowledge and opportunities will be the key to reducing this phenomenon as suggested by [4] and many other studies.