Abstract

The study assessed the effects of rural youths migration pattern on small-scale cereal crops farmers in Kwara State, Nigeria, the specific objectives of the study are to describe the socio-economic characteristics of the farming household; examine the push and pull factors of youth migration; ascertain the perceived effects of rural youth migration on small-scale cereal crop farming household and examine various mitigating strategies adopted in the study area. Multi-stage sampling technique was used to select a total number of Four Hundred (400) cereal farmers. Data were collected from primary source using structured questionnaire complemented with interview schedule. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The results showed that majority (94%) of cereal farmers were males with mean age of 43 years. Majority (86%) of cereal farmers were married, with mean house hold of 6 persons. The mean years of farming experience was 29years while 60% of the respondents were full time farmers. Further findings revealed that poverty (91%) and natural disasters (89.5%) were the major push factors causing youths migration in the study area while alternative sources of income during off-season (100%) and better employment opportunities and labour (99%) respectively were the major pull causes of youths migration to cities in the study area. Establishment of bank of agriculture in rural areas for easy access to loans (X ̅ =3.86) and establishment of agro-allied industries (X ̅ =3.78) were the major strategies used to mitigate rural youth migration. It was recommended that skills acquisition and entrepreneurship should be provided to enable youths to stay in the rural area, efforts should be put in place by government and non-governmental organization through the assistance of national disaster control in order to check the incidence of flood and bush burning that push youth out of the rural areas.

Key words: Cereal crops, Migration, Pull factors, Push factors and Youths