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
