ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the Ghanaian opportunity structure in rural and urban areas with reference to a highly mobile ethnic group, the Frafras of north-east Ghana. Although it is widely recognized that rural economic activity is not all agricultural and that the 'modern sector' is by no means wholly identifiable with urban areas. The practice of most observers has been to link a number of overlapping typologies within the framework of one ideal typical pair of opposites. The chapter highlights the need for a reappraisal of the theoretical, empirical and policy foundations of the study of urban drift. The last element in this picture of the Ghanaian opportunity structure from the viewpoint of the Frafra migrant concerns activities which bring together rural and urban fields. Finally, the chapter talks about government planning in the face of continuing rural-urban migration. When theoretical formulations and empirical measurements are removed from reality, what hope can there be for a genuine appraisal of policy alternatives?
