ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes rural fertility change, urban fertility change, and rural-urban fertility differences among the Temne of Sierra Leone over the period 1963 to 1976, and interprets the results in light of problems faced by formulators of public policy for such high fertility populations. Agricultural produce, principally palm kernals, was Sierra Leone's basic export through the colonial period until the economic collapse of 1930. The chapter discusses data collection by means of survey enumerations in the Temne context and provides background information on Kolifa Mayoso and the town of Magburaka in relation to a discussion of the use of age-calendars to date vital events. Intermediate variables determine Temne fertility parameters, but cultural variables determine the intermediate variable parameters. The chapter explains declining urban relative to rural fertility appears primarily by a decreasing proportion of married women in Magburaka and addresses implications for planning and policy-making.
