Migration and change in rural Zambia
Hedlund, H.; Lundahl, M.
Research Report, Scandinavian Institute of African Studies, Sweden 70: 107
1983
Document Number: 402684
This case study of the effects of out-migration on the rural economy aims to give a more detailed picture than the usual economic analysis of rural urban migration. Empirical material is drawn from 1974-78 anthropological research in Zambia, mainly in the Eastern and North Western Provinces. Ch. 2 surveys the relevant literature, notably the Lewis and Harris-Todaro models. Ch. 3 reviews the history and evolution of Zambian agriculture, and of migration. Ch. 4 deals specifically with outmigration from two Chief Areas in Chipata District of Eastern Province. Ch. 5 examines its cause and effects, using the Harris-Todaro model. Migration in the Chipata case is shown to create a labour problem for many households, with negative income repercussions. Ch. 6 deals with the breakdown of traditional beer-labour mobilization reciprocity resulting from migration to the cities. Ch. 7 discusses the use of settlement schemes to mitigate out-migration, using the Nyangombi scheme in North Western Province as a case study. Urbanization is expected to continue, in spite of increasing urban unemployment and falling real wages, because of the poor rural-urban terms of trade.