Vol. 116 No. 1 (2022)
Research Papers

Migration among Farmers in Delta State, Nigeria: Is it a Climate Change Adaptation Strategy?

PDF
  • Albert Ukaro Ofuoku,
  • Davina Okompu
Albert Ukaro Ofuoku
1Department of Agricultural Economics Extension, Delta State University, Asaba Campus, Asaba, Delta State, Nigeria
Davina Okompu
1Department of Agricultural Economics Extension, Delta State University, Asaba Campus, Asaba, Delta State, Nigeria
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36253/jaeid-12076

Published 2022-06-30

Keywords

  • Adaptation strategies,
  • agricultural extension services,
  • climate change,
  • climate extension services,
  • climate change mitigation,
  • internal migration
    • ...More
    Less

How to Cite

Ofuoku, A. U., & Okompu, D. (2022). Migration among Farmers in Delta State, Nigeria: Is it a Climate Change Adaptation Strategy?. Journal of Agriculture and Environment for International Development (JAEID), 116(1), 5–28. https://doi.org/10.36253/jaeid-12076
Copyright Notice
Crossref
Scopus
Google Scholar
Europe PMC

Abstract

Objective: The study has the purpose of evaluating the nexus between climate change and migration of farmers in Delta State, Nigeria. The influence exerted by cognitive situations and climate – driven stress on farmers’ decisions to migrate and the socioeconomic attributes of migrating and non-migrating farm families are examined. The emphasis is the function of migration in accessing climate and agricultural extension services as well as the contribution made by migration to promote farmers’ climate change coping capacity. Methodology: Survey was articulated using farming households in three agricultural zones of Delta State, Nigeria. Perceptions of farmers about alterations in climate were examined with the use of mental map technique. Binary logistic regression model was applied to assess the function of socioeconomic attributes of farm families while descriptive statistics was employed in evaluating the adaptive capacities of the migrating farming households. Findings: Climate – driven livelihood variables form part of the main propellers of migration among farmers. Migration as well as the socioeconomic attributes is influenced by perception of farmers about climate change. There appears significant difference between migrating and non-migrating farm families with respect to utilization of information, technology and knowledge emanating from agricultural and climate extension services. The gains from remittances, knowledge and social networks from host communities or zones raise migrating farm families capacity to adapt to climate change. Theoretical Implications: This paper contributes to the progressively dynamic body of knowledge by pointing out migration as an alternative climate change adaptation strategy to promote agriculture food security in any part of the world. Originality/Value: Micro – evidence is offered by this study with respect to contribution made by migration to adaptive capacity of farmers and their ability to have access to agricultural and climate extension services. This will be useful in the analysis of climate – driven migration in other nations that are agricultural economies. Insight is also offered regarding policy needs for the scaling down of farmers’ vulnerability to climate change.

PDF

References

  1. Adger W.N., Dessai S., Goulden M., Hulme M., Lorenzoni I., Nelson D.R., Naess L.O., Wolf J. and Wreford A., 2009. Are there social limits to adaptation to climate change?. Climate Change, 93(3), 335–354. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-008-9520-z
  2. Adger W.N., Kelly P.M., Winkels A., Huy L.Q. and Locke C., 2002. Migration, remittances, livelihood trajectories, and social resilience. AMBIO A Journal of the Human Environment, 31(4), 358–366. https://doi.org/10.1579/0044-7447-31.4.358
  3. Ahmed A.U., Hassan S.R., Etzold B. and Neelormi S., 2012. Where the rain falls case study: Bangladesh. Bonn: United Nations University and Institute for Environmental and Human Security.
  4. Banerjee S., Gerlitz J.I. and Hoermann B., 2011. Labour migration as a response strategy to water hazards in the Hindu Kush-Himalayas. Kathmandu, Nepal: ICIMOD.
  5. Barnett J. and Webber M., 2009. Accommodating migration to promote adaptation to climate change. The Commission on Climate Change and Development. Available at: www.ccdcommixsion.org
  6. Below T., Artner A., Siebert R. and Sieber S. 2010. Micro-level practices to adapt to climate change for African small-scale farmers. A review of selected literature. Environment, Production and Technology Division.
  7. Bhatta G.D. and Aggarwal P.K., 2016. Coping with weather adversity and adaptation to climatic variability: A cross – country study of smallholder farmers in South Asia. Climate and Development, 8(2), 145 – 157. https://doi.org/10.1080/17565529.2015.1016883
  8. Bhatta G.D., Aggarwal P.K., Kristjanson P. and Shrivastava A.K., 2016. Climate and non-climate factors influencing changing agricultural practices across different rainfall regimes in South Asia. Current Science, 110 (7), 1272.
  9. Bhatta G.D., Aggarwal P.K., Poudel S. and Belgrave D.A., 2015a. Climate-induced migration in South Asia: Migration decisions and the gender dimensions of adverse climate events. Journal of Rural and Community Development, 10(4), 15–28.
  10. Bhatta G.D., Aggarwal P.K., Shrivastava A.K. and Sproule L., 2016. Is rainfall gradient a factor of livelihood diversification? Empirical evidence from around climate hotspots in Indo-Gangetic plains. Environment, Development and Sustainability, 18(6), 1657–1678. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-015-9710-6
  11. Bryan E., Deressa T.T., Gbetibouo G.A. and Ringler C., 2009. Adaptation to climate change in Ethiopia and South Africa: Options and constrains. Environmental Science and Policy, 12(4), 413–426. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2008.11.002
  12. Conway D. and Cohen J.H., 1998. Consequences of migration and remittances for Mexican transactional communities. Economic Geography, 74(1), 26–44. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1944-8287.1998.tb00103.x
  13. De Haan A., Brock K. and Coulibaly N., 2002. Migration, livelihoods and institutions: Contrasting patterns of migration in Mali. Journal of Development Studies, 38(5), 37–58. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220380412331322501
  14. De Hass H., 2010. Migration and development: A theoretical perspective. The International Migration review, 44(1), 227–264. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-7379.2009.00804.x
  15. Etzold B., Ahmed A.U., Hassan S.R. and Neclormi S., 2014. Clouds gather in the sky, but no rain falls: Vulnerability to rainfall variability and food insecurity in northern Bangladesh and its effect on migration. Climate and Development, 6, 18–27. https://doi.org/10.1080/17565529.2013.833078
  16. Fei J.C.H. and Ranis G., 1964. Economic development of the surplus economy. Economic Development and Cultural Change, 11 (1), 54–91.
  17. Gbetibouo G.A., 2009. Understanding farmers’ perceptions and adaptations to climate change and variability: the case of the Limpopo basin, South Africa. International Food Policy Research Institute, 489, 10–21.
  18. Gray C. and Bilsborrow R., 2013. Environmental Influences on human migration and rural Ecuador. Demography, 50(4), 1217–1241. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13524-012-0192-y
  19. Gray C. and Mueller V., 2012. Drought and population mobility in rural Ethiopia. World Development, 40(1), 134–145. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2011.05.023
  20. Grothmann T. and Patt A., 2005. Adaptive capacity and human cognition: The process of individual adaptation to climate change. Global Environmental Change, 15(3), 199–213. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2005.01.002
  21. Hansen J.W., Marx S.M. and Weber E.U., 2004. The role of climate perceptions, expectations and forecasts in farmer decision making: The Argentine Pampas and South Florida. Final Report of IRI Seed Grant Project.
  22. Harris J.R. and Tadaro M.P., 1970. Migration, unemployment and development: A two-sector analysis. The American Economic Review, 60(1), 126–142.
  23. Hassan R. and Nhemachena C., 2008. Determinants of African farmers’ strategies for adopting to climate change: Multinomial choice analysis. African Journal of Agricultural and Research Economics, 2(1), 83–104. https://doi.org/10.22004/ag.econ.56969
  24. Hicks J., 1932. The theory of wages. London: McMillan.
  25. Hunter L.M., Murray S. and Riosmena F., 2013. Rainfall patterns and US migration from rural Mexico. International Migration Review, 47(4), 874–909. https://doi.org/10.1111/imre.12051
  26. Jha C.K., Gupta V., Chattopadhyay U. and Sreeraman B.A., 2018. Migration as adaptation strategy to cope with climate change. A study of farmers’ migration in rural India. International Journal of Climate Change Strategies and Management, 10(1), 121–141. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCCSM-03-2017-0059
  27. Kates R.W., 2000. Cautionary tales: Adaptation and the global poor societal adaptation to climate variability and change. Armsterdam, Netherlands: Springer.
  28. Kohli H.S., Sharma A. and Sood A., 2011. Asia 2050: Realizing the Asian Century. New Delhi: Sage Publications.
  29. Kumark K.K. and Viswanathan B., 2012. Weather variability and agriculture: Implications for long and short-term migration in India. Centre for Development Economics, Delhi School of Economics.
  30. Laczko F. and Aghazarm C., 2009. Migration environment and climate change: Assessing the evidence. Geneva: International Organization for Migration.
  31. Livigstone D.N., 2000. Environmental determination.In: Johnston R.J., Gregory D., Pratt G. and Watts M. (eds), The Dictionary of Human Geography, 4th ed. (pp 212 – 215). Oxford: Blackwell.
  32. Lucas R.E., 1997. Internal migration in developing countries. Handbook of Population and Family Economics, 1, 721–798.
  33. Lybbert T.J. and Sumner D.A., 2012. Agricultural technologies for climate change in developing countries: Policy options for innovation and technology diffusion. Food Policy, 37(1), 114–123. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodpol.2011.11.001
  34. Maddison D., 2006. The perception of land adaptation to climate change in Africa. CEEPA Discussion Paper No. 10. Centre for Environmental Economics and Policy in Africa. University of Pretoria, Pretoria.
  35. Marin A., 2010. Riders under storms: Contributions of nomadic herders’ observations to analyzing climate change in Mongolia. Global Environmental Change, 17(1), 47–58. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2009.10.004
  36. Marx S.M., Welber E.U., Orlove B.S., Leiserowitz A., Krantz D.H., Roncoli C. and Phillips J., 2007. Communication and mental processes: Experimental and analytic processing of uncertain climate information. Global Environmental Change, 17(1), 47–58. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2006.10.004
  37. McDowell C. and Haan A.D., 1997. Migration and sustainable livelihood: A critical review of the literature. Working paper, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex.
  38. McLeman R. and Smit B., 2006. Migration as an adaptation to climate change. Climate Change, 76(1/2), 31–53. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-005-9000-7
  39. Mueller V., Gray C. and Kosec K., 2014. Heat stress increase long-term human migration in rural Pakistan. Nature Climate Change, 4(3), 182–185. https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2103
  40. Nhemachena C. and Hassan R., 2007. Micro-level analysis of farmers’ adaptation to climate change in Southern Africa. IFPRI Discussion Paper No. 00714, International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington D.C.
  41. 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), 6–11.
  42. Ofuoku A.U. and Albert C.O., 2014. Conservation of traditional agricultural knowledge in Delta State, Nigeria. Social Change, 44(3), 401–411. https://doi.org/10.1177/0049085714536802
  43. Ofuoku A.U., 2017. Contribution of rural-urban migrants’ remittances to farming household food security, in Delta Central Agricultural Zone, Delta State, Nigeria. Journal of Agribusiness and Rural Development, 3(45), 655–663. https://doi.org/10.17306/J.JARD.2017.00350
  44. Ofuoku A.U., 2019. Social inclusion of rural – rural migrant arable crop farmers and agricultural production in Delta State, Nigeria. Rural Society, 28(2), 144–160. https://doi.org/10.1080/10371656.2019.1651483
  45. Ofuoku A.U., Okoh R.N. and Saiki P.K., 2011. Determinants of adaptation to climate change among arable crop farmers in Edo State, Nigeria and its implications of extension service. Agriculture-Science and Practice Journal, 3(2), 3–4.
  46. Patnaik U. and Das P.K., 2017. Development interventions confer adaptive capacity? Insight from rural India. World Development, 97, 298–312.
  47. Patnaik U. and Narayanan K., 2015. How effective are coping mechanisms in securing livelihoods against climate aberrations? Evidence from rural India. International Journal of Climate Change Strategies and Management, 7(3), 359–374. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCCSM-07-2014-0085
  48. Porter J.R., Xie L., Challinor A.J., Cochrane K., Howden S.M., Iqbal M.M., Lobell D.B. and Travasso M.I., 2014. Food security and food production systems. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  49. Rivera W.M. and Sulaiman, V.R., 2009. Extension: Object of reform, engine of innovation. Outlook on Agriculture, 38(3), 267–273. https://doi.org/10.5367/000000009789396810
  50. Roncoli C., Ingram K. and Kirshen P., 2002. Reading the rains: local knowledge and rainfall forecasting in Burkina Faso. Societies and Natural Resources, 15(5), 409–427. https://doi.org/10.1080/08941920252866774
  51. Scheffran J., Marmer E. and Sow P., 2012. Migration as a contribution to resilience and innovation in climate adaptation: social networks and co-development in North West Africa. Applied Geography, 33, 119–127. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeog.2011.10.002
  52. Stark O. and Bloom D.E., 1985. The new economics of labour migration. The American Economic Review, 75(2), 173–178.
  53. Stark O. and Lucas R.E., 1988. Migration, remittances, and the family. Economic Development and Cultural Change, 36(3), 465–481. https://doi.org/10.1086/451670
  54. Stark O., 1984. Rural-to-urban migration in LDCs: A relative deprivation approach. Economic Development and Cultural Change, 33(3) 475–486.
  55. Stojanov R., Kelman I., Ullah A.K.M., Duzi B., Prochazka D. and Blahutova K.K. 2016a. Local expert perceptions of migration as a climate change adaptation in Bangladesh. Sustainability, 8(12), 1223. https://doi.org/10.3390/su8121223
  56. Stojanov R., Duzi B., Kelman I., Nemec D. and Prochazka D., 2016b. Local perceptions of climate change impacts and migration patterns in male, Maldives. The Geographical Journal, 183(4), 370-385. http://doi:10.1111/geoj.12177.
  57. Swanson B.E., 2006. Extension strategies for poverty alleviation: Lessons from China and India. Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension, 12(4), 285–299. https://doi.org/10.1080/13892240601062488
  58. Tacoli C., 2009. Crisis or adaptation? Migration and climate change in a context of high mobility. Environment and Urbanization, 21(2), 513–525. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956247809342182
  59. Tarleton M. and Ramsey D. 2008. Farm – level adaptation to multiple risks: Climate change and other concerns. Journal of Rural and Community Development, 3(2), 51–68.
  60. Taylor E.J., 1999. The new economics of labour migration and the role of remittances in the migration process. International Migration (Geneva, Switzerland), 37(1), 63–88.
  61. Tripathi A., 2017. Socioeconomic backwardness and vulnerability to climate change: evidence from Uttar Pradesh State in India. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 60(2), 328–350. https://doi.org/10.1080/09640568.2016.1157059
  62. Tsckakert P. and Tutu R., 2010. Solastalgia: Environmentally induced distress and migration among Africa’s poor due to climate change. Environment, forced migration and social vulnerability. Berlin: Springer.
  63. Tyson P.D., Lee-Thorp J., Holmgren K. and Thackeray J.F., 2002. Changing gradients of climate change in southern Africa during the past millennium: Implications for population movements. Climate Change, 52(1), 129–135. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1013099104598
  64. Upadhyay H., Kelman I., Lingaraj G.T., Mishra A., Shreve C. and Stojanov R., 2015. Conceptualizing and Contextualizing research and policy for links between climate change and migration. International Journal of Climate Change Strategies and Management, 7(3), 394–417. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCCSM-05-2014-0058
  65. Viswanathan B. and Kumar K.K., 2015. Weather, agriculture and rural migration: Evidence from state and district level migration in India. Environment and Economic Development, 20(4), 469–492. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1355770X1500008X
  66. Warner K. and Afifi T., 2014. Where the rain falls: Evidence from 8 countries on how vulnerable households use migration to manage the risk of rainfall variability and food security. Climate and Development, 6(1), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/17565529.2013.835707
  67. Warner K., 2010. Global environmental change and migration: Governance challenges. Global Environmental Changes, 26(3), 402–413. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2009.12.001
  68. Woodruff C. and Zenteno R., 2007. Migration networks and micro-enterprises in Mexico. Journal of Development Economics, 8(3), 12–28. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2006.03.006