Advancing agricultural diversification within rural regions: The dynamic role of interregional rural-rural migration

The 2030 agenda for sustainable development has highlighted the significance of migration in agricultural development and transformation. However, pertinent studies hitherto overly focused on rural-urban migration and, as such, fail to provide substantive evidence in driving policies toward rural sustainable development. To address this gap, we used the rural web sustainability framework to analyse and elevate the discourse about how rural migrants contribute to agricultural diversification in their rural-regional destinations. A questionnaire-based survey was conducted to collect data from 600 rural households comprising 306 migrants and 294 non-migrants in Ghana. Rural migrants were those who moved from their village and settled in another village as destination place, the surveyed areas for this study whilst non-migrants were natives. Formal interviews were held with 60 participants from social groups, religious organisations, traditional councils, government representative groups, and not-for-profit organisations to solicit the needed supplementary data. The findings hold that rural migrants are agents of change in the socioeconomic development in their rural-regional destinations. This change is seen in their significant role in advancing agricultural diversification production, such as introducing new varieties of food crops, establishing small-scale businesses to increase value-added production, and forming several social groups to empower their production capacity. Our findings highlight that interregional rural-rural migration can alleviate accessibility barriers to essential assets which can help address poverty among smallholder farmers and ensure food availability in rural regions. We provide evidence to support the design of policy interventions aimed at building the capacity of rural households to transform agriculture for sustainable development. [Display omitted] •Studies have overly focused on rural-urban migration.•Rural-urban migration fails to provide substantive evidence in achieving rural sustainable development.•We used the rural web sustainability framework to explore rural migrants’ contribution to agricultural diversification.•The findings hold that rural migrants are agents of change in their rural-regional destinations.•This change is seen in their significant role in advancing agricultural diversification production.•We provide evidence to support policies that empower rural households to transform agriculture for sustainable d