Economic Ties between Workers and Their Agricultural Homeland in Nigeria and Zambia

Abstract

In Nigeria, urban workers, in theory, are expected to return to farming in their rural homeland in response to the rise in the relative price of agricultural products for both domestic and foreign markets as a result of the currency depreciation of under a structural adjustment programme, My study found strong socio-economic ties between urban workers and their rural family and a strong desire to reengage in agriculture. However, several factors work against the migratory worker's immediate return to their homeland in Nigeria. Similar ties were found among both Nigerian and Zambian workers in construction sites.