The Yoruba Cocoa Migrant Farmers And The Growth Of Islam In Some Rural Communities Of The Defunct Ondo Division Of Southeastern Yorubaland, Nigeria Since The 1930s
Keywords:
Farmers, islam, migrants, Ondo Division and Nigeria, migrationAbstract
There exist some works on the permanent or temporary movement of Nigerian peoples within the same and across geographical regions, mainly as a result of factors of economic opportunities in the places of destinations. However, the discussion on migrants as agents of socio-economic and political development in their places of destination has not been adequately interrogated. This paper, therefore, discusses the emigration of Yoruba cocoa migrant farmers from Western and Northern Yorubaland into Ondo Division of Southeastern Yorubaland since the 1930s. The emigration of these migrant farmers was mainly caused by the British colonial economic policy, which emphasised cash crop economy. One of the main centres of attraction for these migrants in the Southeastern Yorubaland during this period was Ondo Division. The division attracted a large number of other sub-groups of Yoruba (who were mostly Muslims and Christians) from the defunct Oyo, Abeokuta, Ijebu, Ilorin Provinces, and Ekiti Division from the 1930s mainly for the establishment of cocoa farms. Migration of these people increased in the 1940s and 1960s due to the boom in cocoa business coupled with other factors such as the availability of abundant fertile land, liberal reception and disposition of migrants by indigenes and commercialisation of rural land. The paper examines the impact of Yoruba Muslim cocoa migrant farmers on the growth of Islam in some rural communities of the defunct Ondo Division such as Kajola, Lipanu, Ago-Ikirun, Sokoto, Labosipo, Bamikemo-Oja among others. Although Islam had got to the division as early as the 1880s, it was restricted to few towns such as Ode-Ondo and Ile-Oluji. Its spread and growth in the interior parts of the division since the 1930s was majorly facilitated by the coming of the Yoruba cocoa migrant farmers from other parts of Yorubaland. Their efforts were later complemented by the Hausa traders, who engaged in kolanut trading in places like Kajola. The methodological approach adopted in this paper is historical, thematic and qualitative. Sources of information include primary and secondary materials derived from oral interviews, archives and extant literature. The paper is based on Everett Lee push and pull theory of migration.