Agrarian Vista or Vortex: African rural livelihood policies

Abstract

This article explores the concepts of livelihoods, sustainability and poverty alleviation with reference to recent rural economy survey findings in subSaharan Africa, policies in the international development policy arena during the last 20 years, and South Africa's rural history. It is argued that processes of deagrarianisation and depeasantisation have accelerated in association with the implementation of structural adjustment policies. Village case-study evidence from various African countries indicates a decline in peasant commodity production, a surge in non-agricultural income diversification, the proliferation of multi-occupational households, accelerating rural class stratification and growing poverty (‘non-agricultural’ activities are those that do not directly involve plant or animal husbandry). International financial institutions, specifically the World Bank, have become increasingly alert to rural poverty over the last few years but tend to ignore their policy influence in this field. The sustainable rural livelihoods approach acknowledges structural change in rural areas but has not yet fully analysed the depth of ongoing change and the policy scope needed to deflect rural poverty. A schematic look at deagrarianisation in South Africa and the effect of past and present policy interventions in South African rural areas illustrates the potential continental dimensions of agricultural labour displacement.

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