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The Migrant Tenant Farmer of Eastern Nigeria

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2012

R. K. Udo
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Extract

In Eastern Nigeria today there is a growing movement of people from very densely populated rural districts to those which are sparsely peopled. The movement involves farmers who, because of the increasing pressure on the already overworked and impoverished soils of their village territories, move to districts favoured with abundant and more fertile farmlands. Migration to the farm during the farming season (February-October) may be distinguished from that in which the migrant stays at his place of work for many years before returning to his own village. The former is generally associated with short-distance movement to farmlands rarely more than twenty miles from the natal village. The latter, on the other hand, often involves movement over long distances. The migrant farmer is engaged not only in growing crops but also in harvesting and processing palm fruits. The various economic, demographic, and environmental factors which give rise to this pattern of farming are discussed in this paper, which also reviews the socio-economic implications of migrant tenant farming in Eastern Nigeria.

Résumé

LES MIGRATIONS DE TENANCIERS DANS L'EST DE LA NIGÉRIA

On observe à l'heure actuelle dans l'Est de la Nigéria un mouvement périodique croissant de la population rurale qui se déplace des régions à densité très forte (plus de 800 habitants au Km2) vers des régions à population clairsemée (moins de 100 habitants au Km2). Il faut distinguer les migrations qui durent un an vers les régions voisines, de celles plus lointaines, à des distances atteignant 100 miles de la région d'origine du migrant. Dans ce dernier cas, le tenancier reste éloigné pendant plusieurs années de son village natal.

Le fermage, c'est-à-dire la mise en location de la terre pour la culture, n'est pas nouveau dans l'Est de la Nigéria, mais habituellement, le propriétaire et le tenancier étaient members du même village ou de villages voisins. A l'exception d'une ou deux régions, le fermage à longue distance n'apparut qu'après la pacification de la région par les Anglais. Cet article étudie les conditions économiques existant dans le pays d'origine des migrants et les différentes façons dont ils gagnent leur vie dans un nouveau milieu. Ceux qui entreprennent la culture du sol le font souvent sur une large échelle, contrairement aux autochtones, et ils vendent la plus grande partie de leur production. Dans certaines régions, les migrants s'occupent principalement de la récolte et de la préparation des fruits de palmier. L'article examine aussi les conséquences socio-économiques qu'entraînent ces migrations dans les différentes ethnies.

Type
Research Article
Information
Africa , Volume 34 , Issue 4 , October 1964 , pp. 326 - 339
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 1964

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References

page 326 note 1 J. Jackson, Intelligence Report on the Ngwa Clan of Aba Division, 1930.

page 329 note 1 Forde, D. and Jones, G. I., The Ibo and Ibibio-speaking Peoples of South-Eastern Nigeria (London, 1950), p. 83Google Scholar.

page 330 note 1 G. B. G. Chapman, Intelligence Report on the Ezza Clan of Abakaliki Division, 1932.

page 330 note 2 Chubb, L. T., Ibo Land Tenure (Ibadan, 1961), p. 43Google Scholar.

page 331 note 1 Hubbard, J. W., The Sobo of the Niger Delta (Zaria, 1948), pp. 338–47Google Scholar.

page 331 note 2 There is a third group of tenants who act as middlemen in the oil trade between the producers and the large oil-trading firms like John Holt and the United Africa Company. The trader tenants are Kalahari Ijaw from the eastern part of the Niger delta who settle on rented land along the creeks of Ahoada and Oguta. Agreements to settle are terminable if this group of tenants engages in farm ing. See L. T. Chubb, op. cit., p. 39.

page 332 note 1 Hill, Polly, ‘The Migrant Cocoa Farmers of Southern Ghana’, Africa, xxxi (1961), p. 213Google Scholar.

page 333 note 1 Horton, W. R. G., ‘The Ohu System of Slavery in a Northern Ibo Village-Group’, Africa, xxiv (1954), p. 318Google Scholar.

page 336 note 1 Anon., Report on the Raid on Farms of the Enugus by certain Awka Towns, 1920/21. National Archives, Enugu CSE 1/49/5.

page 337 note 1 Harding, H. J. M., ‘The Bamenda Cross River Calabar Scheme ’, Farm and Forest, xi (1952), 44–48Google Scholar; also Allpress, P. L., ‘Post-War Settlement and Resettlement in the Eastern Provinces of Nigeria ’, Farm and Forest, vii (1946), 89Google Scholar.