Household Responses to Urban Encroachment on the Rural Hinterland in the Ogbomoso Urban Fringe, Nigeria

This paper examines the responses of households located in urban frontiers of Ogbomoso, a pre-colonial though rapidly expanding city situated in S.W. Nigeria, to negativities of city expansion such as the increasing shortage of farmland, rising land rent/price, increasing house rents and food expenses, as well as basic services. The paper begins by examining the issue of spatial changes in Ogbomoso city between 1914 and 2007 using GIS. In order to examine the responses of households to urban encroachment, the study combines households and communities in the Ogbomoso urban fringe as units of analysis. Data was collected with the aid of structured questionnaires and focus group discussions. A total of 359 questionnaires were submitted to randomly selected households in eighteen communities of the Ogbomoso urban fringe to gather information concerning the socio-economic and demographic characteristics of respondents, as well as data concerning the impact of city expansion on their livelihoods. One session of focus group discussions was also conducted among community elders in five communities in order to investigate the changing economic base of the communities under analysis. Results indicate that in response to changes in the economic base of communities, the occupations of households have tended to shift from farming and fishing to a trading economy. Individual land holdings, with an observed decrease in farm size/holdings and an increase in the distance of farms, are now widely adopted in response to changes in land tenure systems, from the customary/community ownership and increase in number of landless adults and dependants. In terms of positive policy, it is suggested that: government should establish farm settlements in designated places situated on the urban fringes and that land should be allocated to farmers based on need as well as the provision of other farm input subsidies and necessary services. These measures will help to revitalize economic activities on the urban fringes, to improve living standards and to serve as a check to prevent any further spatial expansion of the city. (Authors Abstract)