THEME: Out-migration of young men and women aggravates labour shortages in the northeast region of Zanzan.

An IFAD study undertaken in 1997 in the Zanzan Region (northeast and Tanda) of the Côte d'Ivoire found that labour constraints, rather than access to land, were the problem concerning small farmers most. Decline in soil fertility requires cultivation of larger expanses of land to maintain production levels. Access to labour is viewed as a key determinant of status and wealth. A rich person is one who has access to a lot of family labour or can afford to hire labour. Polygamy is one way of achieving this. People noted that widows who did not have children to help them, and therefore had little labour access, were at a great disadvantage.

Out-migration of rural youth has an implication on labour availability and the future of agriculture. There has been considerable emigration to the cities, though male migration has decreased somewhat recently with the economic crisis and urban unemployment. Young girls continue to find employment in Abidjan as domestic servants. Villages vary in terms of the extent of such out-migration and whether it is young men or young women who leave. Most of those who migrate have had very little education, since only a minority of children in the region go to school. Their occupational opportunities are therefore limited.

Girls often leave home at a very young age (even as young as 10 or 11) and may never return. Most rural migrant girls are placed, with the assistance of an intermediary, in household service in Abidjan. Reportedly, remittances from such girls are not significant. They tend to be limited to the occasional gift, as when the girl returns home for festive occasions. A girl's salary is usually kept for her by the intermediary when the girl is young. Parents reported that the reason for their daughters' leaving was the girls' desire to have 'nice clothes', and because the parents could not stop them. Clearly there are advantages and disadvantages to such migration. On the one hand, it may reduce the number of people the family has to feed and clothe, provide a source of emergency funds and, on occasion, give a girl 'a better life'. On the other hand, it also deprives the household of labour, especially in terms of assistance to the mother. Further, it exposes many girls to exploitation. Some young men complained that girls who migrated learned 'bad habits', and the men therefore did not want to marry them if they returned. Many girls, in fact, do stay away, as those from the village of Koria. There are resulting demographic implications to this.

The emigration of male youth is also due to their limited land rights and culturally imposed restrictions, and to the presumed attractions and promises of city life. In the case of the Lobi youth, they are only allowed to cultivate yam for themselves. Their main duty is to help on the family farm. Among the Koulango, the situation is more favourable to independence. If youth have the financial means, they may cultivate their own plots, as long as this does not conflict with their work on the family farm, which always has to take priority. Some Koulango youth who do not get help from their families migrate to the city with the idea of earning enough money to return and farm independently. The Agni-Abron youth become independent later, again leading often to out-migration.

Rural youth are an important target group for development projects, particularly as the urban situation becomes less attractive and youth are apparently becoming more interested in agriculture, including group farming and modern technology. But such initiatives will be hampered by cultural constraints, particularly those that affect land access and economic independence for youth.

Adapted from:

Lubbock, Annina. 1998. Côte d'Ivoire: Securite Alimentaire et Problematique Hommes/Femmes dans La Region de Nord-Est. Rome: IFAD, January. All secondary sources are as noted in this document.

IFAD Projects in Côte d'Ivoire