Description

History of development proved that any planning of urban as well as rural areas in isolation never provided complete solution to the problems. Thus, it is now recognized that rural and urban developments are interdependent. There are economic and demographic linkages reflected in the flows of goods, services, people, labor, capital, and information across the two spaces. Even though different developing countries recognized and welcomed the importance of integrated rural-urban development, there is no much information regarding rural-urban marketing linkages. In line with this premise, this research is undertaken to explore marketing linkages between Kobo town and the surrounding rural areas. The study, indicated that, the existence of fertile plain areas coupled with practice of small scale modern irrigation projects, show strong consumption linkages with limited backward linkages and lack of forward production linkages. By identifying linkages, this study tried to provide some possible recommendations to strengthen the rural-urban marketing linkages for integrated development. Thus, it can help policy makers in the area of regional development planning.