Rural €“Urban Migration and Subsequent Land Management Practices in Moshi Rural District, Tanzania

Abstract

This paper examined the impact of rural urban migration on land restoration andmanagement in Moshi rural District. The paper is based on the study carried out in Mkolowonyi, Tema and Otaruni villages. Both qualitative and quantitative techniqueswere employed in collecting, managing and analysing data. Questionnaire were usedto collect quantitative data while focus group discussion, indepth   interviews and directobservation were employed to collect   qualitative data.   A total number of 100householdswhich representing 5% of 1819 household swere was selected as a sample.Also   5 key informants and about 17 members were purposefully selected for 3 focusgroup discussions.   Descriptive and thematic data analysis techniques were employed.Findings show that rural urban migration has both positive and negative impacts onland management. It reduces pressure on land resource, and improves landmanagement practises through funds provided by the migrants, employing temporarylabourers and introducing new crop varieties. The study recommends that rural - urbanmigration should be seen as an opportunity instead of a problem. Thus there is a needto encourage positive linkage between rural migrants and counterparts in rural areas inorder to boost community development.Keywords:   Migration, environment, impact, rural-urban.