Drawing on research findings emanating from the De-Agrarianisation and Rural Employment (DARE) Research Programme, coordinated by the African Studies Centre, Leiden, this paper compares changing... Show moreDrawing on research findings emanating from the De-Agrarianisation and Rural Employment (DARE) Research Programme, coordinated by the African Studies Centre, Leiden, this paper compares changing economic and social patterns in a wide variety of rural settlements in sub-Saharan Africa. Recently emerged or refashioned income diversification tendencies are highlighted and linked to the blurring of strong rural-urban contrasts. After a schematic consideration of continental trends, followed by a more detailed examination of rural livelihood patterns, the author teases out some of the major tensions embedded in the broad-based reorientation of rural livelihoods, leading to a discussion of how effective current government and donor policies are in addressing this rural transformation. The conclusion returns to the issue of sub-Saharan Africa's 'betwixt-and-between' status (the balancing act of African rural dwellers caught in between farm and nonfarm, family and individual, and rural and urban contrasts), arguing that the uncertainty could be alleviated with a more directional policy approach, an approach that facilitates provisioning of rural households and communities local-level, daily needs, and strengthens public policy, training facilities and infrastructure for future occupational diversification and specialization. Show less
The upsurge in nonagricultural income diversification which has taken place on the African continent during the last fifteen years represents large-scale agrarian labour displacement within an... Show moreThe upsurge in nonagricultural income diversification which has taken place on the African continent during the last fifteen years represents large-scale agrarian labour displacement within an accelerated process of depeasantization. The literature's current preoccupation with market response and prescriptive behaviour based on Western norms and formal economic models clouds perception of what is actually taking place. The confusion begins with limiting the focus to the household as the unit of analysis while tacitly assuming that such households operate within a clearly delineated formal/informal/peasant three-sector economy. One by one, the components of the three-sector model are changing; national economies represent an amalgam of these three sectors into one 'formless' sector. This paper presents colonial and postcolonial perspectives on the African rural labour question, specifically with respect to Tanzania, in order to lend historical depth and sociopolitical dimension to the current focus on income diversification. To ground the analysis, case study observations are presented from four Tanzanian villages: two situated in the Mbeya region and two in Iringa region. The new 'sustainable rural livelihoods' (SRL) approach is a response to the complexity of rural livelihoods and their growing nonagricultural character. Show less
Sub-Saharan Africa is steadily becoming less rural in character. For decades development thinking has prescribed industrialization as the virtuous path leading away from economic dependence on... Show moreSub-Saharan Africa is steadily becoming less rural in character. For decades development thinking has prescribed industrialization as the virtuous path leading away from economic dependence on agriculture. The present paper rejects the view that rural or even national industrialization has taken place or is likely to take place in sub-Saharan Africa in the immediate future. The author argues that the preconditions for this happening are largely absent. She proposes an alternative perspective centred on the process of 'de-agrarianization' and attendant rural employment generation. De-agrarianization is defined as a process of economic activity reorientation, occupational adjustment and spatial realignment of human settlement away from agrarian patterns. The most overt manifestations of this process are a diminishing degree of rural household food and basic needs self-sufficiency, a decline in agricultural labour effort relative to nonagricultural labour in total national labour expenditure, a decrease in agricultural output per capita relative to nonagricultural output, and a shrinking proportion of population residing in rural areas. A research programme on de-agrarianization and rural employment generation in Malawi, Tanzania, Ethiopia, South Africa and Nigeria is proposed. (Abbreviated and revised version in: World Development, vol. 24, no. 1 (1996, pages 97-111). Show less
This paper examines the interface between work conditions of rural women in Africa and Western perceptions and interventions to address them. From a schematic review of Western attitudes towards... Show moreThis paper examines the interface between work conditions of rural women in Africa and Western perceptions and interventions to address them. From a schematic review of Western attitudes towards African rural women's work, the paper moves on to consider donor intervention directed at improving rural women's status. The central question posed is how external donor agenciescan extend beyond localized project efforts to provide the material foundation for facilitating widespread change in women's working day of a self-determing nature. A 'homestead economics' approach is suggested as a catalyst for change. In this programme, women's labour constraints rather than income generation is given precendence. Furthermore, teenage girls would be specially targetted for training and income generating activities, with emphasis on creating new economic and social expectations. It is argued that changes in young women's attitudes and skills could have a far-reaching effect Show less
