Factors influencing rural-urban female migration: a case Study of Rombo District, Tanzania

This study sought to examine the socio-economic impacts of Rural-Urban female migration in Rombo District located in Kilimanjaro region. Further, the study examined the factors influencing female migration in Rombo District. The study also, assessed the linkages between the rural and urban livelihood as well as intervention measures of female migration in Rombo District. The study employed the questionnaires which were distributed to rural females and urban female migrants. About 267 females resided in rural area were taken as a sample to represent the entire female population. The research was also done in Dar es Salaam where a large proportion of females from Rombo District end up as the destination area. About 50 female migrants were taken as a sample in order to achieve the objective of the study. The Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 16.0 was employed for data analysis. The findings showed that there is large proportion of females who were the victims of migration. This is mainly due to inheritance laws, poverty and poor socio-economic conditions of the families, population pressure and other factors like employment opportunities, income differentials, education and marriage which were highly influenced by unequal distribution of resources and regional economic differentials hence forced the rural females and males to leave their homeland. However, the study discovered that migrants maintain contacts with their relatives at the area of origin again they sent cash and noncash remittances such as basic needs like sugar, salt, cooking oil, building materials like iron sheets, cement, installing electricity, water pipes and drilling wells. Migrants also give their relatives money for medical treatment as well as paying school fees. All these were done as efforts towards the minimization of hardship in their life. The findings from the study also discovered that the study area is much affected due to negative socio-economic impacts like shortage of labour hence decrease their production, lack of assistance and overburdening of females, brain drain, marriage instabilities and insecurity of the migrant’s properties. Moreover, the study revealed that the common destination areas for the migrants are Dar es Salaam, Moshi, Arusha, Tanga, Mwanza and Kenya (Nairobi). Despite the fact that people in the study area are living under pathetic and dreadful life still the findings shows that about 89.5% of the rural respondents claimed that no effort that have been undertaken by the government to curb the problem of rural-urban female migration in Rombo District. They have tried to establish schools, colleges, health canters, transport and communication system. Overall, the study recommends the government of Tanzania through its policy makers, program makers in collaboration with the urban authorities and the community can first and foremost equalize allocation of resources by giving more priority of capital investment and helping the rural population with soft loans, can set good prices for the production of coffee which is the main cash crop in Rombo District, can provide agricultural subsidies to the farmers so as to encourage and strengthening markets worldwide, establishing and improving social services like education, health centres, water supply, electricity, transport and communication networks so as to minimize the problem.