Rural-Urban Food Movement: Role of Road Transportation in Food Chain Analysis

Introduction

The fact that nations, settlements cannot survive in isolation brings about interaction and relationship between them. The connection and interaction between settlements is a function of transportation. Transportation is a measure of relationship between places; it helps bring about interaction between human settlements. The nature of relationship between rural settlement and urban centers is dependent on the transport sector. Rural-urban interaction is most times a demand-supply relationship. Rural areas supply the food that the urban centres need for sustainability, while they need these urban centers for their threshold. The rural population most times does not have the population strength (range) to survive in business of food crop production thus it needs the urban centers to demand for food and thus supply (Osabuohien, 2020a; 2020b). What makes interaction easy and feasible is transportation.

Food chain analysis is a concept that helps in understanding the rural and urban market systems developmental impact within a geographical location. Critical to the food system is market linkage, food production and distribution across rural and urban setting in which road transport is imperative.

Transportation as a part of any human activity determines the goods and services available for consumption (Nkegbe et al., 2012). Spatial distribution of facilities, services and goods in space cannot be efficiently maximized if the transport sector is paralyzed. The transport sector is an important component of the economy impacting on development and the welfare of populations. When transport systems are efficient, they provide economic and social opportunities and benefits that result in positive multipliers effects such as better accessibility to markets, employment and additional investments. When transport systems are deficient in terms of capacity or reliability, they can have an economic cost such as reduced or missed opportunities. Studies (Ajiboye and Afolayan, 2009; Tchanche, 2019) noted that road transport is the most common means of transportation and complex network. Its network covers a wide range, physically convenient, highly flexible and usually the most operationally suitable and readily available means of movement of goods and passenger traffic over short, medium and long distances.

Studies (Popoola et al., 2015; Avery et al., 2017) state that transport as a lung to other sector of the economy performs the role of linking supply and demand. Transport contributes to the overall development of a country since it serves as essential means of collecting, moving, transferring and distributing people as well as goods in from place to place. Thus, development is a function of demand for transport. In Northern Nigeria, Yunusa et al. (2002) reported that road improvement in part of rural Kaduna, led to significant increase in agricultural production, farm and non-farm employment and revitalization of economic activities in the area. Buttressing this, Ogunleye et al. (2018) reported that road transport infrastructure investments over the years in Nigeria had brought about an upward movement of agricultural sector in the country. This is because good road networks often ease transport costs and as said by Oni (2000), it tells a great deal about a society and its values. Thus, it can be said that transportation is the life-wire of any environment (Medayese, 2009; Herrero, 2011). Herrero (2011) iterate that transport is an important factor in the context of sustainable development due to the pressure it places on the environment, its, economic and social impacts, and its linkages with other sectors. It is the channel through which information is been diffused from one place to another, knowledge is been shared, and commercial activity takes place. Commercial activity in the instance of this study is focused on the food movement from rural areas to urban market within the food system and analysis.

Agricultural production is very important to the economy of developing nations and Nigeria in particular. Porter (2013) is of the notion that in productive agricultural regions, transport services are essential for the evacuation of produce. In Nigeria, Tunde, and Adeniyi, (2012) stated that, transport is regarded as an important factor involved in agricultural development. This can be postulated that agriculture will depend on transport. Agricultural activities in developing countries are constrained by several factors one of which is poor rural infrastructure and inadequate and poor transport sector. Such is that a poor transport system would necessarily influence costs.