Nevertheless, there are also other less known migrants equally motivated by the abundance of natural resources. Migration in Ghana, like migration anywhere else in the world, is in response to imbalances in development existing between origin and destination areas (Kwankye et al., 2007). It is also a strategy for survival. Migration within West Africa, and between the region and the rest of the regions of the continent goes back a long way (Arhin, 1978). The trans-Saharan caravan routes were among the earliest evidence of major interaction between West and North Africa for trading and exchange of scholars (Boahen, 1966). Migratory movements in Ghana have always been strongly determined by the distribution of economic opportunities.

According to Songsore and Denkabe (1995), Awumbila (2007) and Van der Geest and Dietz (2010), the consequence of uneven development between northern and southern Ghana has been that ‘the north’ has constituted a major source of labour supply for the industries and agriculture in the south. As a result, there has been the impoverishment in the north and the relative buoyant urban economy in the south. This was partly due to the British colonial administration which initiated forced labour recruitment from the northern territories of the then Gold Coast (now Ghana) to satisfy the need for cheap labour in the mining, timber, cocoa and oil palm plantation areas in the south (Songsore, 2003).

This pattern of migration (north-south) has attracted a number of academic scholarship in Ghana (Oppong, 1967; Nabila, 1975; Zeng, 1993; Abur-sufian, 1994; Synnove, 1999; Mensah-Bonsu, 2003; Sulemana, 2003; Abdul-Korah, 2006; Kwankye et al., 2009; Wouterse, 2010; Agyemang and Raqib, 2013; Hashim, 2007; Meier, 2005; Kubon, 2004; Tanle, 2010), particularly on the patterns, determinants and implications of north-south migration on both areas of origin and destination. Other studies on north-south migration have focused on the migration of young females from the northern sector to the southern parts of Ghana to engaged in various economic activities such as the ‘kaya yei’ (head porterage) business (Tanle, 2003; Riisøen et al., 2004; Whithead and Hashim, 2005; Tanle and Awusabo-Asare, 2007; Awumbila and Ardayfio-Schandorf, 2008). These young females of the north find their ways particularly into Accra-Tema, Kumasi and Sekondi-Takoradi. 

Although the aforementioned studies have shed light on the north-south migration pattern in Ghana, these studies are mostly centred on the economic dimension of north-south migration without systematically examining the socio-cultural milieu within which the phenomenon occurs. In particular, issues regarding return migrants’ sub-cultural values (such as modern lifestyles and higher status upon return) as predictors of north-south  migration are seldom considered in most migration studies in Ghana.

The few studies (Twumasi-Ankrah, 1995; Awumbila et al., 2009; Keest, 2010; Bosiakoh et al., 2014) which have attempted to examine the drivers of rural out-migration in northern Ghana have also been traditionally centered on destination pulls and origin push factors. These studies, however, failed to investigate the critical role of migration feedbacks (in the form of sub-cultural values) from destination areas in the south. It is against this backdrop that this study assessed the drivers of north-south migration in the Wa West District and investigating whether economic returns or migrants’ sub-cultural values determine recurring out-migration of youth from the Wa West District of the Upper West Region of Ghana. Hence, it is anticipated that this study will provide some policy directions on how to support such affected communities to manage sustainably the north-south migration phenomenon in Ghana. Based on the objective of this study, it was hypothesized that there is no relationship between the background characteristics of respondents (age, sex, marital status, education, religion, ethnicity and destination) and their main reasons for migrating to southern Ghana.

According to Goldscheider (1971), migration is defined as any permanent change in residence; it involves the detachment from the organization of activities at one place and the movement of the total round of activities to another. This study adopted the definition from Goldscheider for the purpose of this investigation. This is because most people who migrate from the Wa West District to southern Ghana move their total round of activities as well as change in their usual place of residence from one region to the other. The term north-south migration in the study was described as a temporary, semi-permanent or permanent change of residence to any place outside the three northern regions (Upper West, Upper East and Northern) but within the country.

From the perspective of Ackah and Medvedev (2010) and Adepoju (2009), the movement of people from places of origin to areas of final destination is a natural phenomenon in human society. Chakravarty and Chakravarty (2012) also asserted that migration does not occur under a common condition; rather the causes of migration are related to specific contexts in which they take place. For example, the reasons for migration may include the desire to seek employment, acquire skills and to improve upon one’s social status (Lee, 1966; Yendaw et al., 2013). However, available literature on rural-urban migration seems to suggest that the decision to migrate involves primarily economic returns from the envisaged destination  (Harris  and  Todaro,  1976;  Adegoke  et  al.,2011, Ahmadian and Shah, 2011; Jedwab, 2013).

On a contrary view, Crawford’s (1973) cognitive model argued that rural-urban migrants make a conscious decision to migrate based on more than just economic considerations but depend on values of migration outcomes and expectations (known as migration feedbacks). Crawford (1973), therefore, defined values as specific goals such as prestige, wealth and autonomy of return migrants. These issues provide some insights which are explored in this study.

According to the conceptual framework for this study (Figure 1), the factors which underpin the decision and the process of every out-migration can be classified into four main broad factors: The background characteristics of potential migrants, the deteriorating push factors at origin, migration feedbacks from return migrants and the pull factors at the destination. The deteriorating push factors are the poor socio-cultural, economic and environmental conditions at origin. The feedbacks of returnees are the factors within the origin that expose rural dwellers to other localities through the return of former migrants which could be in the form of sub-cultural returns (e.g. modern lifestyles, physical appearances, influence and prestige of return migrants, acquisition of southern languages and names etc) and economic returns such as consumer durable goods.

In the context of this study, therefore, migration outcomes of return migrants mediated by individual characteristics of potential migrants such as level of education have been hypothesized as the key determinants shaping current north-south migration patterns in the Wa West District, Ghana. As observed by Rogoff et al. (2003), just as people acquire their genes from their parents, the same way they are triggered to learn a variant culture from the people they encounter and adapt to the change for a successful interaction. Among their peers or friends, the desire to acquire sub-cultural “models” such as languages, terminologies, and lifestyles of returned migrants usually rises among non-migrants (Rogoff et al., 2003).

The pull factors are also the socio-economic and cultural attractions at the destinations that potential migrants are less exposed to. They include industrial jobs, good incomes, languages, modern lifestyles and social amenities at the destination. These destination pull factors together with the origin push factors are described in this study as weak propelling factors for rural out-migration. The factors that determine the actual out-migration are the migration feedbacks from returnees. As shown in Figure 1, an individual migrant who is confronted with precarious cultural, economic and environmental factors at the place of origin begins to compare his or her current conditions to the socio-economic gains expected at the destination. Though a comparison of this nature is critical to the out-migration decisions of non-migrants, however, it is not strong enough to impel the actual out-migration. Rather, the strong desire to  migrate  among  non-migrants  becomes urgent when they come into contact with return migrants (Tanle and Awusabo-Asare, 2007). a

The study was undertaken in six purposively selected communities namely: Bamkpama, Beriyase, Disesi, Nyoli, Siriyiri and Zanko) in the Wa West District (WWD) of the Upper West Region of Ghana. These communities were chosen for the study because they are the communities in the WWD noted for out-migration (Ghana Statistical Service-GSS, 2012; Wa West District Assembly-WWDA, 2014) and also these communities have over the years embraced southern cultures (e.g. southern names, languages and terminologies) in the district.

Geographically, the WWD is bordered to the north by the Nadowli-Kaleo District, east by Wa Municipality, South by Sawla-Tuna-Kaliba District and west by Burkina Faso (Figure 1). The district also lies between Longitude 9º 40‟ N and 10º 10‟ N and between Latitude 2º 20 W and 2º 50‟ W (GSS, 2012). According to 2012 projection census report by the Wa West District Assembly, the WWD has a total of 81,348 inhabitants comprising 40,227 males and 41,121 females with its main livelihood activity being agriculture (World Food Programme, 2012). This is reflective of the region-wide statistics of which over 90% of active workforce are into agriculture which accounts for about 80% of the region’s economy (World Food Programme, 2012). It is worth noting that agricultural activities in the WWD are rain fed. Only a few privileged communities engage in dry season farming mostly powered by reservoirs and mini-dams constructed by development partners (Kusakari et al., 2014). Thus, most of the farming communities have limited livelihood options during the long dry season (About seven months), compounding poverty conditions in the area (World Food Programme, 2012). It is thus not surprising that the WWD was declared nationwide as the district leading in food insecurity and frequent youth out-migration (World Food Programme, 2012).

The mixed method approach was adopted in the study in order to capture both quantitative and qualitative data. The approach was relevant since the study examines whether economic returns or migrants’ sub-cultural values determine out-migration of young people from the Wa West District. Both primary data and secondary data/information were used in this study. The primary data were derived from the field using in-depth interviews and interview schedule (researcher administered questionnaire) while the secondary information was obtained from records of the WWDA, Ghana Statistical Service reports and published and unpublished research materials.

The study targeted return migrants and non-migrants in the study areas who were 18 years and above. This age was adopted in the study because it is regarded as the age of majority and consent in Ghana. In this study, a return migrant was defined as any person born in any part of the WWD who owes allegiance to that place but has migrated and resided in any part of southern Ghana for at least one year or more and have returned to the WWD prior to the survey.

As it is with most migration researches in sub-Saharan Africa, there was no existing data base (sampling frame) on return migrants in the study areas. Consequently, a sample size for the study could not be easily determined. However, using the snowball sampling technique, 373 returnees were identified with their contact details profiled during a reconnaissance survey. A sample size of 120 return migrants was arbitrarily decided on based on resources available for the study. This number was then systematically sampled from the 373 returnees identified.

In addition, 12 key informants (opinion leaders) comprising 6 non-migrants (one from each of the six selected communities) and 6 returned migrants (one from each community) were purposively sampled and interviewed to enrich the study. A non-migrant within the context of this study was defined as any person born in any part of the WWD who owes allegiance to that place and throughout his or her working life has never resided in any part of southern Ghana except for temporary visits or vacations. The selection of these key informants was based on their knowledge and experiences of out-migration in the study communities.

The instruments  used  in  the  data  collection  exercise  covered  the socio-demographic characteristics of respondents, their destination choice criteria, the migration decision-making process, motivations for their out-migration and their re-migration intentions. The instruments were pre-tested at Nakore, a community in the WWD which had similar characteristics as the study communities. Twenty respondents were selected for the pre-test which enabled the researcher to ascertain the face and content validity of the instruments before the actual data collection commenced. The data collection lasted for a period of one month beginning from 1^st April to 1^st May, 2014. This period was chosen for the fieldwork because it coincided with the beginning of the rainy season where most migrants had returned to their communities of origin to begin their farming activities.

Data from the interview schedule was checked for accuracy and completeness. The interview schedule was then numbered serially, edited, coded, and keyed into the Statistical Product and Service Solution (SPSS) version 21. Mainly, descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse the data. The descriptive analyses were presented in tables using frequencies and percentages. The Binary Logistic Regression Model was used to analyse the relationships between motivations for migration and the socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents. The socio-demographic characteristics of the returnees were treated as the explanatory variable while their main motivations for migration were captured as the outcome variable. Data from the in-depth interview (IDI) guide were also edited, cleaned and manually transcribed verbatim. Afterwards, they were organized thematically and analyzed manually. The narrative approach (direct quotations from the patterns that emerged from the analysis) was adopted in the presentation of the findings.

Intentions to migrate again in future and reasons

The last objective of the study was to interrogate the re-migration intentions of the respondents. This was important to do because it has serious policy  implications particularly for institutions responsible for managing migration issues in Ghana. From the analyses, it was observed that most (69.2%) of the respondents although they have already migrated before, still express their desire to re-migrate in future. When asked about their main reasons for re-migrating (Table 7), nearly about half (46.7%) of them lamented over the seasonal nature of agricultural activities (single rainfall maxima) in the area followed by the desire to gain more exposure (37.5%).

This implies that the WWD will continue to lose its productive youth to rural out-migration if steps are not taken by duty bearers to address youth unemployment arising from the seasonal nature of agricultural activities. However, this could be checked if substantial investments are made by government to provide irrigational facilities and incentives to attract the youth into agriculture.

This study attempts to resolve the controversy on whether economic returns or migrants’ sub-cultural values determine the frequent out-migration of young people from the Wa West District of the Upper West region of Ghana. The results reveal that most rural out-migrants in the Wa West District are influenced to migrate by their parents/guardians but females are more likely to migrate than males. This was expected because in recent times socio-cultural norms are no longer restrictive on female migration. However, the implications of autonomous migration of females from rural to urban centres have been widely documented in the literature (Ardayfio-Schandorf and Awumbila, 2005; Tanle and Awusabo-Asare, 2007; Awumbila and Ardayfio-Schandorf, 2008).

The study also indicates that Ashanti Region (56.6%) followed by Brong Ahafo Region (35%) are the two preferred destinations for most migrants from the Wa West District and jobs availability as well as modern facilities are the two factors migrants consider in choosing their respective destinations. This has implications on the total populations of these two regions (Ashanti and Brong Ahafo) and the use of natural resources, particularly farmlands since most seasonal migrants from the Upper West region engaged in farming in the Brong Ahafo and Ashanti regions (Geest et al.,, 2010; Yelsang, 2013). The study further shows that exhibit of migration feedbacks by return migrants (notably sub-cultural values) are the main drivers shaping current north-south migration patterns in the Wa West District. Specifically, the results indicate that the strong desire of non-migrants to experience modern lifestyles/facilities, improved their physical appearances and acquire consumer durable goods are the overriding factors determining the persistent out-migration of youth in the Wa West District.  

Results from a binary logistic regression model showed that level of education, ethnicity and destination are the significant determinants of north-south migration among the people of the District. The implication is that as far as the development gap between the north and the south continues to persist, people from the Wa West District and elsewhere in the underdeveloped north will continue to migrate to cities in the south to enable them have a feel of modern lifestyles/facilities and to acquire some consumer durable goods required for sustenance.

Sadly, the study revealed that most of the respondents interviewed intended to re-migrate to cities in Southern Ghana and the main reason cited was unemployment resulting from seasonal agricultural productivity. This paper contributes to the growing discourse on rural out- migration in Northern Ghana, and concludes that the current drivers of north-south migration, unlike other studies are mainly due to migration feedbacks of return migrants, in particular feedbacks emanating from socio-cultural values such as modern lifestyles.

POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS AND FURTHER RESEARCH

To reverse or minimize the current north-south migration pattern from the Wa West District, there is the need for conscious efforts by government and other relevant NGOs to make investments in Northern Ghana to bridge the gap in development between the northern and southern Ghana. For instance, the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) which seeks to transform the north could be repackaged with the needed technical and capital resources to execute its mandate of narrowing the development gap between the north and the south. One key area which needs to be addressed immediately is modernization of agricultural activities in the study area through all-year-round irrigation farming, supply of all needed agricultural inputs and ready market for farm produce. This is critical because most of the respondents interviewed in the study expressed a strong desire to re-migrate in future due to the seasonal nature of agricultural production in the study area. This implies that the current north-south migration pattern will continue to persist if concrete measures are not taken to modernize agricultural activities.

Moreover, there is the need for intensive education (behavioural change communication programmes) for both return migrants and non-migrants particularly regarding the dangers and risks associated with north-south migration. This can be done by promoting the formation of Youth Clubs among migrants and non-migrants since this will serve as medium for sensitizing potential migrants regarding the risk involved in migrating to the south. This could be strategically implemented through partnerships between state and non-state actors such as the National Population Council, the National Youth Employment Ministry and the International Organization for Migration.

Finally, the study recommends that rigorous academic studies on this topic should be replicated throughout the three northern regions to actually ascertain the underlying drivers of current north-south migration in Ghana. This will help generate sufficient empirical evidence to guide development planners in addressing the north-south migration phenomenon sustainably. This is needed since the loss of rural populations from northern Ghana to urban centres in southern Ghana is  often  bemoaned  (in both political and academic circles) for its implied adverse effect on rural and urban development management.

The authors have not declared any conflict of interests.