Abstract
This report analyses agricultural transformations, livelihoods and rural-city connections in Sub-Saharan Africa with the aim to identify key policy areas for regional development. The report draws on the results from comparative empirical studies in various dynamic rural regions characterized by small-holder farming in Cameroon, Ghana and Tanzania. These rural areas
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include the Noun (dominant crop: rice) and Bamboutos (horticulture) regions in Cameroon; the Ahanta (rubber) and Kwaebibirem (oil palm) regions in Ghana; and the Njombe area (Irish potatoes), the Lindi area (sesame) and the Northern corridor (tomatoes) in Tanzania. These regions have been selected for their high degrees of rural dynamism and their transformatory potential for rural development in relation with urbanization and globalization. All research sites are dynamic rural regions in which transformation processes are guiding the everyday life of rural households. The regions are very diverse in their geographical settings, in the processes driving transformation, and with respect to the social and economic challenges and opportunities. However, notwithstanding that contextual variety, the results from the comparative study point to some pertinent policy messages for addressing the key challenges of rural and regional development, taking advantage of the rural-urban nexus. The report highlights the main findings on agricultural transformation and rural-urban linkages – which refer to multifaceted flows of people, goods, labour and capital – and the way these linkages critically influence the livelihoods of the rural households under study. These flows have been stimulated by many different forces, including decreasing costs of transportation and communication, exemplified by mobile phones, motorcycles and trucks allowing a broader range of actors to participate in the market exchange and to facilitate market information from towns and cities to villages. In turn, this has led to rapid changes in land-use due to a quicker response to changing market signals by smallholders. At the same time, the rural areas under study have become an important destination for labour migration and non-farm activities such as trade, construction work or other skilled work; especially in emerging urban centres operating as centres for market exchange and offering service facilities. Additionally, new flows of capital are triggered by urban-based and other non-local citizens who invest in land because they anticipate that production of the dominant crop becomes highly profitable. This results in private accumulation of land – partly facilitated by increasing formalization and titling of traditional tenure systems. Departing from the general findings from the comparative studies in the three countries, a generic framework for regional development prioritization is presented that serves as a platform for proposing more specific policy recommendations. 4 Key messages for policy strategies can be summarized as follows: (1) Policies should foster further commercialization and transformation of agricultural production by promoting the cultivation of dominant crops with strong linkages in the regional economies because of their high incremental potential for spin-off activities. Ongoing facilitation of the regional collection and distribution functions and the improvement of transport systems are also of vital importance to stimulate commercialization of agricultural production and further socio-economic changes within dynamic rural areas. (2) More flexible land tenure options will help to increase agricultural production and productivity, and provide additional incomes for farmers with urgent financial needs. Policies should facilitate a greater level of transparency in land transactions and land markets contributing to the bargaining power of landowners from different socioeconomic strata. (3) Policies should seek to reduce frictions to labour movements. The agricultural (seasonal) labour force may be supported by facilitating easier access to flexible labour markets, housing facilities and other logistic needs. Rural towns and service centres are the logical places for such enabling policies. Also, off-season labour opportunities should be improved in order to keep the pool of mobile labour force – in particular youngsters – within the area by ensuring transparent and decent working conditions. (4) Regional development policies should include the construction and upgrading of social, economic and spatial infrastructure. Such improvements facilitate intra-regional household mobility and engender livelihood diversification, which in turn contributes to the expansion of rural economies. Diversification of the regional economy and the development of rural service centres will also prevent the outflow of human capital, in particular of the young and enterprising parts of the rural population. (5) Local governments should promote and facilitate the collective use of remittances, e.g. by engaging migrant associations and community development committees in locally embedded action planning projects. Governments should create appropriate institutional environments in order to ensure that co-development projects are community driven, locally owned, and beneficial to all stakeholders. (6) Regional development policies should include the facilitation and expansion of ICT development, in order to decrease the great disparity of access to ICTs and to stimulate productive use of ICTs. Planners should recognize that mobile phones and banking services contribute to local economic development by boosting the business environment and networking possibilities. Fostering ICT consolidation also is essential for capacity development and the connectivity between villages and nearby urban settlements as well as with larger towns within and beyond national borders.
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