| dc.description.abstract | This study attempts to uncover some of the
causes of rural-rural migration in Kenya. It is based
on the 1983/84 Population-Agriculture Interrelationship
Sample Survey conducted by a team of researchers from
the University of Nairobi.
Motivation for the study arose from the fact
that students of migration in Kenya have had a longstanding
oversight of intra-rural migration, instead
paying more attention to rural-urban migration. There
was need to fill up this gap of knowledge and the present
study offers that opportunity. Findings herein could
complement those already established in previous
rural-urban migration studies for a better understanding
of internal migration in Kenya.
Until recently, urban areas in Kenya have remained
the most visible centres of job opportunities, to which
migration streams have gravitated. With the current
swing of the pendulum of development towards district
focus, pockets of rural development have emerged as new
centres of job opportunities attracting potential
migrants. The/resultant is a new form of rural-rural
migration process that should be investigated so as to
establish its impact on the economy. )
The present study is focussed on Mumias Sugar
Industry in Western Kenya where an impressive rural
development emerged in early 1970s. As a growing rural
modern commercial sector, the study area has continued
to usher in labour migrants from the surrounding less
developed rural locations. To understand the causes
and characteristics of migrants involved in this process,
calls for an examination of factors assumed to influence
some people to migrate and others not to migrate. Eight
such explanatory variables are considered and analysed
in this study.
The multiple regression results confirm that demographic,
socio-economic and cultural-cum-spatial factors
are important in determining rural-rural migration process
in Kenya. The study also confirms that the migrating
population is mainly composed of the older, less
educated, with children and usually covering short
distances. However, there is evidence that recent
migrants exhibit characteristics similar to those
of rural-urban migrants. These findings have policy
implications in both the rural areas of origin and those
of destination. Recommendation is made for planners
to make rural areas attractive by directing the
country's resources towards rural economic projects.
This would retain potential rural-urban migrants within
the rural areas as well as increasing job opportunities
in the country. | en |
