The Impact of Rural-Urban Migration on Plantation Agriculture in the Niger Delta Region, Nigeria

This study was carried out to unveil the impact of rural-urban migration on plantation agriculture productivity in the Niger-Delta Region of Nigeria. Data were collected from 660 rural households and managers/supervisors of 15 selected oil palm, rubber, and cocoa plantations in the Niger-Delta Region. Descriptive statistics and multiple regression analysis were used to analyze the data. Most migrants were able bodied young adults. Labor shortage was experienced by all the visited plantations. Due to labor shortages, most of the plantations could not harvest completely. This resulted in foregone revenue for the plantations. Rural-urban migration significantly and positively correlated with labor shortage, incomplete harvesting and foregone revenue. It was recommended that the government should invest in infrastructure development of the rural sector and in cooperation with donors, should encourage engineering departments of our universities to develop simple machines that can compensate for labor shortages in the plantations