Rural –urban interactions and its implications on livelihood improvement: a case of Bungu Ward-Rufiji District

This study was conducted in Bungu ward to assess the implication of rural urban interaction to the community livelihood improvement. The study specifically focused on investigating the nature of the interaction and its impact on improvement of the household income and the environment. The study employed different data collection methods which include household survey, focus group discussions key informants interview and participatory field observation. Simple random sampling technique was employed to obtain households sample of 10% from the villages whereby 104 household heads were interviewed. The study found that the interaction between rural areas of Bungu, kibiti and mkuranga and Dar es Salaam had a significant implication on rural livelihoods of the communities involved. Findings from the study showed that, interaction of people from different area in the study area was mostly influenced by trade and accessibility of the area due to efficient transport network especially from Dar es Salaam. The study also revealed that households which were involved in the interaction are gaining more income compared to those who are not involved. The study further observed that the interaction had negative impacts on the environment including deforestation, forest encroachment and land degradation. The study concluded that rural urban interaction plays a significant role in livelihood improvement and diversification to rural households. The study recommends to create conducive market environment by empowering farmers to decide the price of their products, to set capacity building mechanism to local farmers and promote awareness rising campaign on environmental protection.