CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW AND CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
2.2 CONCEPTUALISING RURAL DEVELOPMENT
2.2.3 Defining Rural Development
25 urban sector in their development policies, thereby creating a widening gap between the urban and rural economies”. This indicates that resources in less developed countries are being allocated more to the development of urban areas and big cities at the expense of rural areas.
As a result, urban areas become more attractive to the rural poor who are forced to migrate to urban areas in search of a better life.
The migration of the rural poor to urban areas and big cities comes with its own problems and challenges. It increases social cost in the areas of housing and social services in urban areas Rural-urban migration also increases the problem of crime, pollution, and crowding in urban areas (De Beer & Swanepoel, 2010).The growing number of slums and informal settlements on the periphery of urban areas indicates the extent to which rural poverty is being migrated to urban areas. To this end, there is a correlation between rural poverty and urban poverty. This suggests that a reduction in rural poverty would prevent rural people from migrating to urban areas in big numbers and gradually reduceurban poverty. The solution to rural poverty is sustainable rural development. This entails making rural areas more attractive and comfortable for the rural people and investors. It further entails atransformation of the undesirable conditions of life in rural areas into a state of opportunities, growth and enhanced quality of life. Hence, Cord (2011) asserts that, the challenges of rural poverty can be overcome when strategies that are focused on pro-poor growth of the rural sector are devised and vigorously implemented to grow the rural economy. Notwithstanding the above theoretical articulation of rural poverty, one of the objectives of this study is to investigate how people in the rural areas perceive and understand poverty.
26 Furthermore, Peet and Hartwick (2009) explain that economic growth can be achieved without addressing the problems of inequality and poverty affecting the majority of the people and, especially the poor. The thrust of their argument is that economic growth is essentially about expansion and production. This researcher contends that economic growth should not benefit the elite alone but should create opportunities for the poor to have easy access to the means of production. One of the key factors of production for the growth of rural economies is land. In this regard, rural development is directly linked to the land question and land tenure in most of the countries in the Global South, especially in Africa. The majority of the people living in rural areas depend on land for their livelihood, yet access to arable land remains a problem.
Land is a complex resource endowed with dualistic characteristics. Firstly, land is a commodity in the economic sense. Yet unlike other commodities, land is completely immobile and each piece of land is associated with a unique location in geographic space (El-Barmelgy et al, 2014). Land has unique qualities, which are linked to natural soil, fertility, mineral deposits, and climatic conditions. This means that all units of land are not of the same grade, and differ in terms of fertility and geographic location. According to El-Barmelgy et al (2014), the application of the same amount of labour, capital and other resources will give rise to differences in productivity with the more superior units being more productive than the inferior ones.
Access to arable land, security of tenure and appropriate skills are critical for the people living in rural areas to sustain themselves and alleviate rural poverty. Access to adequate land enables people living in rural areas to establish small farms for cultivating different crops and keeping livestock for their consumption and to sell the surplus for cash. In this regard, access to land has the potential to contribute to household food security and create opportunities for economic independence and wealth accumulation (Ashley and Maxwell, 2001; Binswanger-Mkhize, Bourguignon, and van dern Brink 2009; Hanstad, Prosterman and Mitchell, 2009). However, the major obstacle to accessing land in rural areas is one of ownership. According to De Soto (2000), poverty of rural people arises from a lack of proof of ownership. For most people living in rural areas in the Global South, land is a common property resource with fluid boundaries that are continuously adapted to suit people’s social needs. As a result, most of the people in rural areas do not have an officially registered right of ownership of the land they occupy. De Soto (2000) describes the unregistered farmlands in rural areas as “dead capital” because it cannot be sold nor used by people in rural areas as collateral for accessing credit.
27 The formalisation of land ownership and security of tenure can encourage investment and development on and off the land. Land can be easily leased or sold to others in times of difficulty, as can the livestock to provide protection against shocks. Rural land owners can also raise credit and use land as collateral against loans. In addition, the formalisation of land ownership in rural areas can make it easier to transfer land to the next generation and allow them to benefit from the security it provides (Thwala, 2006; Hanstad, Prosterman and Mitchell, 2009; Grant, 2011). Furthermore, land reform as part of the process of rural development can contribute to job creation, increase the poor farmers’ income and improve rural food security.
This researcher posits that, land reform and rural development are intrinsically connected and need to be addressed simultaneously to alleviate rural poverty. However, the process of land reform needs to prioritise skills development and training, as well as the provision of appropriate infrastructure to enable the rural population to engage in productive activities to increase their income and food security.
A survey of the literature on development indicates that development is about change, the kind of change that creates space and opportunities for the poor to exercise their capabilities in a productive manner. Researchers such as Chambers (1983), Friedmann (1992) and Sen (1990), address both the material and non-material aspects of the human condition that include vulnerability and powerlessness, which are the major causes of poverty. On the same trajectory, Singh (1999:20) argues that development entails “a set of desirable societal objectives which a society seeks to achieve”. It is when such desirable objectives are achieved that the quality of life that is cherished by the beneficiaries is realised. In this case development implies a change from what is perceived and experienced as an undesirable condition of life(i.e poverty) to what is not just acceptable but also desirable and cherished.
To this end, Todaro and Smith (2011:16), define development as a process that:
“Must represent the whole gamut of change by which an entire social system, tuned to the diverse basic needs and evolving aspirations of individuals and social groups within that system, moves away from a condition of life widely perceived as unsatisfactory toward a situation or condition of life regarded as materially and spiritually better”.
Although the concept of development could mean different things to different people, it essentially entails change from one state of being to another. In the case of this study, it is a change from a state of poverty to a state of growth and improvement. According to Rist (2010), development has a transitive meaning, which means that for change to occur, an action must
28 be performed by a change agent. The change agent could be government, political organisations, NGOs, CBOs, private sector organisations such as businesses or individuals. It is important to recognise that development is a consequence of action or planned activity that should involve the poor as agents of their own development. To this end, Sen (1999:15) argues that development is more about “how society grants to individuals the capacity for taking part in creating their own livelihoods, governing their own affairs, and participating in self- government”. For Sen, development involves people’s participation in the making of important decisions that affect their life and environment. The removal of the major sources of unfreedom in the poor’s lives is imperative for them to act as autonomous agents of change. These sources of unfreedom include “poverty as well as tyranny, poor economic opportunities as well as systematic social deprivation, neglect of public facilities as well as intolerance or overactivity of repressive states” (Sen, 1999:3). These sources of unfreedom are indeed a handicap to the poor and perpetuate the status quo of poverty and inequality.
As a subset of development, rural development has been defined by Singh (1999:20) as “a strategy to enable a specific group of people, poor rural women and men, to gain for themselves and their children more of what they want and need”. Singh elaborates that, regardless of certain factors, such as the geographic location, culture, and the historical stage of the development of a society, there are three basic elements that constitute the true meaning of development. These basic elements are: life-sustenance, self-respect and freedom.
Consequently, a society that has fully realised these three elements in practical terms can be classified as developed. Midgley (2004) states further that, rural development is concerned with the well-being of the entire population in the country side. The primary concern of such a process is the provision of basic welfare services such as health care, education, clean water, sanitation, roads and electricity. Rural development is also about improving rural infrastructure and the promotion of production-based activities that create economic opportunities and employment. The primary concern of the process of rural development is the long term growth and improvement of the whole gamut of rural life. The process is dynamic and complex as it seeks to address multiple causes of rural poverty. The table below summarises indicators that can be used to determine the level and extent of rural development in a given situation.
29 Table 1: Summary of Indicators of Rural Development
Indicator Explanation
Improved infrastructure Improved infrastructure in various sectors such as roads, communication, educational facilities, health care facilities, clean water, sanitation and electricity is a good indicator of rural development. Infrastructure is necessary for delivering quality services and for growing rural economies.
Economic growth (real income per capita)
Growing rural economies in the agricultural sector and tourism is important for creating jobs and increasing rural income. Economic growth helps to increase the real per capita income amongst the rural population and it creates productive opportunities. Essentially, growing rural economies prevents the depopulation of rural areas caused by rural-urban migration.
Improved social well-being Social-well-being refers to the quality of social life and welfare. Therefore, access to good education, health care, reduced risks and vulnerability of rural people are good indicators of rural development.
Access to land and security of tenure
Land is a source of livelihood for many rural communities. Therefore, land tenure reform has a direct bearing on rural development. It is imperative that rural people gain access to arable land so that they can engage in productive farming activities. Landlessness perpetuates rural poverty and results in land degradation.
More participation Participation is central to sustainable rural development. It empowers rural people to take responsibility of their own development in ways that will not harm the future generations. Therefore, rural development occurs when rural people are empowered to take responsibility for all development activities that concern them.
Improved security Security is one of the basic human needs that rural communities struggle to meet. Rural development should seek to protect vulnerable groups such as women, the elderly and children under the law and ensure that they have easy access to justice. The challenge of rural development strategies is to ensure that rural people live in a safe environment.
Source: Cord, 2011 The above indicators can be used to measure and evaluate the extent of rural development over time. They reflect the dynamic and complex nature of rural development, which must encompass multiple areas of the material and non-material aspects of rural life in order to achieve a better life for all. The indicators also show that the agenda on the eradication of rural poverty remains a mammoth task for most of the developing countries where the majority of
30 the rural poor are found. Statistics indicate that in 2016, the population of people living in rural areas was nearly 3.4 billion people and that 92% of them were living in the rural areas of the developing world (OECD, 2016a). Data from the World Bank (UN, 2016a) also indicayes that rural populations are higher in Asia and Africa compared to Europe and America. Midgley (2004) notes further that rural poverty, inequality and unemployed have persisted in the developing economies despite impressive national economic growth and rural development policies. The major problem seems to be the lack of both prioritisation and innovative approaches to rural development. Thus, Muzaale (1987:75) observes that:
“[M]any Governments in Africa have tended to treat poverty as a purely economic problem that could be overcome by means of carefully planned and implemented economic development programmes. But this approach has led not to a reduction in poverty but to a mere increase in average incomes and GNP”.
Muzaale’s argument demonstrates that aggregate economic development does not necessarily reduce rural poverty or benefit the poor, and that rural poverty is not just an economic problem but a complex one that covers the whole gamut of rural life. The tendency to treat rural poverty as a purely economic problem has resulted in an increase of rural poverty both in incidence and intensity in Africa (Muzaale, 1987:75). The variety of economic measures undertaken to eradicate rural poverty have also not been effective because they have failed to take into account the multiple causes of rural poverty. This indicates that rural development should include a variety of activities and programmes which are designed to bring on board rural people during programme identification, designing and implementation. In addition, this researcher argues that programmes designed to address rural poverty need to involve people living in rural areas in order to be relevant to the rural contexts. Finally, the processes of identifying and designing rural development programmes should be less sophisticated to allow people living in rural areas to play a meaningful role in their implementation.
A review of the available literature on rural poverty and development revealed specific characteristics of rural poverty that set it apart from urban poverty. For that reason, some researchers have argued that it is easier for development agencies and practitioners to influence access to services in urban areas than in rural contexts (Ashley and Maxwell, 2001;
Satterthwaite and Tacoli, 2002; Grant, 2011). Wiggins and Proctor (2001) add that it is easier for the poor in peri-urban and urban areas to access services and opportunities because of their proximity to urban centres. On the contrary, it is difficult for the poor living in rural areas to access similar services and advantages because of the distance and travelling costs involved
31 (Wiggins and Proctor, 2001; Douglas, 2006; Grant, 2011). This indicates that most of the poor African rural dwellers are handicapped from accessing services and job markets by the lack of physical infrastructure. They also lack the necessary power to influence key decisions that affect their lives. The problem requires approaches that take into account various forms of deprivation and unfreedom that researchers such as Sen (1999), Friedmann (1992) and Chambers (1983), have identified and elucidated.