Perceived Impact Of Rural-Urban Migration On Food Systems: A Case Study Of Farmers In Nkoranza South Municipality, Ghana.

ABSTRACT Rural-urban migration is a major challenge in traditionally migration prone areas such as Nkoranza South Municipality in the Brong Ahafo region of Ghana. Food system and its related activities embedded in agriculture, for example, non-mechanized farming suffer the most as a result of labour shortage associated with out-migration from farming areas. Some specific objectives of the study were to identify community perception about rural-urban migration and to determine perceived effects of rural-urban migration on some aspect of food systems (weeding, planting, harvesting and transporting) from the farmer‟s perspective in some communities (Ahyiayem, Asonkwaa and Nyinase) in Nkoranza. The research design that was adopted for the study was mixed methods. The sample size was made up of 270 farmers within the communities, selected through a multistage sampling procedure. Instruments used for the study were structured questionnaires and in-depth interview guides. The quantitative data was analysed using SPSS and the qualitative through the use of thematic analysis. The results show that decrease in food production, reduce farming income and loss of labour for farming activities were the most immediate impact of migration on food systems. The findings further indicated that non-mechanization type of farming in the area has made specific components of food systems such as weeding, planting, harvesting and transporting of produce labour intensive due to out-migration, with the majority (87.4%) relying on hired labour elsewhere in the absence of family labour for farm work. It again reveals that significant proportion of farmers attributed migration as the cause of decreased labour in the area with more than half of the farmers acknowledging a direct link on the impact of labour availability on food production. In spite, of the perceived negative impact of migration on food systems, migration also impacted positively on the left-behind families and their livelihood in general due to receipt of remittances. It is concluded that food production activities were affected by migration in the area of labour and income generation from farming. Based on the findings of the study, it is recommended that traditional agriculture and food systems should be improve by establishing agro processing factories to reduce the amount of food wastage during harvest. Mechanize farming should be supported by government in the absence of human labour for farm work. Finally, since agriculture is dominated by men in the study area, agricultural policies should mainstream women engagement and encourage them into the sector.