Abdulkadiri Babalakin, who grew up in Odo-Omo, a village in Asa Local Government Area of Kwara State, said things weren’t exactly like that in the past
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It’s essential to acknowledge that news production incurs expenses, and we take pride in never placing our stories behind a prohibitive paywall.Experts say drought and desertification in Nigeria’s north have forced herders to seek grazing lands further south leading to conflicts over the sharing of resources with farmers.
The situation at Odo-Omo isn’t any different from the reality of residents of surrounding villages visited by PREMIUM TIMES in March. At Lasoju village, also in Kwara State, farmers lamented the absence of young people who could help with farming activities. In almost all the villages, there is a consensus among farmers and residents: the immediate and direct consequence of rural-urban migration is the rapid reduction in the available agricultural workforce in rural communities.
At Oloofe, Otte-Oja and Budo-Egba in Kwara State, farmers and off-takers spoke of the need to keep young men in farming communities amid an unprecedented food inflation crisis.Although studies show that men are more mobile than women and are more likely to migrate between rural and urban areas, young women in rural areas in Nigeria also migrate with attendant effect on agricultural practices and food supply.
Although Nigeria has had to face food crises in recent years due to the ripple effect of both local and global concerns like insecurity and the Russia-Ukraine war, the situation deteriorated last year after the Bola Tinubu administration removed subsidies on petrol, which many Nigerians use to power their vehicles and generators. The government also devalued the naira in an effort to unify the official exchange rate to the dollar with what is obtained in the black market.
“Many of these people fleeing their farms in villages are young people who cannot cope with the poor living conditions in rural areas,” said Babayemi Animashaun, a farmer in Osuntedo village, Osun State. According to the statistics bureau, unemployment is less than 5 per cent in Nigeria but almost half of Nigerians are estimated to live below the national poverty line. With employment opportunities more available in urban centres, amid insecurity in rural areas, most young people move to the cities in search of greener pastures.
Gafar Akande, an agricultural extension analyst, said that since Nigerian farmers largely practice traditional rain-fed, subsistence farming that rests on manpower due to limited access to modern farming techniques, rural-urban migration concern has ripple effect on agricultural practice, available manpower and, ultimately, food production in rural areas.
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