INTRODUCTION People migrate to take advantage of spatial disparities in the social, economic and political environments that have far reaching consequences on them. Migration, whether at the international or local level, may be a deliberate attempt by the migrant to reap social benefits associated with location differential. There are different types of migration; these include: Internal migration, which is the movement of people to a new home within a state, country, or continent; External migration is the movement to a new home in a different state, country, or continent; Emigration: leaving one country to move to another (e.g. the Pilgrims emigrated from England); Immigration: moving into a new country (e.g. the Pilgrims immigrated to America); Return migration: when groups of people move back to where they came from; Seasonal Migration: when people move with each season (e.g. farm workers following crop harvests or working in cities off-season). Smita (2007) broadly defined seasonal migration on the basis of three elements: (i) a lack of alternatives in origin areas, which force entire families to migrate in search of work (ii) work, which is based on indebtedness generates little or no surplus for the labourers at the end of the season, and is merely for survival. (iii) work, which involves large-scale violation of labour laws. Deshingkar et al. (2009) defined seasonal migration as a temporary move from and followed by return to the normal place of residence for purposes of employment. This study reveals that some households barely manage to raise themselves above existing survival levels, while others accumulate wealth over time. However, what is clear is that most would be worse off, if they were depending solely on local employment. In this study, however, rural immigrants are people who have left rural locations for other rural location within Journal of Applied Agricultural Research 2013, 5(1): 3-17 ISSN 2006-750X © Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria, 2013 RURAL IMMIGRANTS, AGRICULTURAL LABOUR SUPPLY AND RURAL NON-FARM ECONOMY IN SOUTH-WEST NIGERIA * Agbonlahor, M. U. 1 and O. S. Enilolobo 2 1 Department of Agricultural Economics and Farm Management, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria 2 Department of Economics, Bells University of Technology, Ota, Nigeria *agbonlahormu@unaab.edu.ng; +2348060659233  ABSTRACT The study investigates the factors that influence immigrants’ decision to settle in rural areas as a way of ensuring sustainable food production and rural development. Multistage sampling approach was used to select 218 immigrants from 72 rural communities in southwest Nigeria. Rural immigrants play significant roles in sustaining rural non-farm economy and the agricultural sector through direct production, and as source of farm labour. Availability of farm land, proximity to high labour demand sources and presence of relatives in the rural community were found to be significant pull factors to rural communities. Household structure as well as community related factors were found to influence propensity to settle in rural areas. Key words: rural development, immigrants, non-farm economy, Nigeria _______________________________________________________________________________ 3