This paper analyses a selection of the literature that has been published on the relationship between the development of food trade and urbanization in sub-Saharan Africa. The evolution of food... Show moreThis paper analyses a selection of the literature that has been published on the relationship between the development of food trade and urbanization in sub-Saharan Africa. The evolution of food marketing systems and the urbanization process are described in three phases: the precolonial period, the colonial period, and the postindependence period. The paper concludes that the evolution of food trade and urbanization have been closely interlinked from the beginning. Sometimes urbanization was the cause and food trade the consequence, at other times both were the consequence of external factors such as intercontinental trade and colonial policies. The evolution of marketing channels and the location of market places have been determined not only by population developments, but also by existing agroecological and ethnic boundaries, emerging national entities, changing government policies, and local social values. Show less
In Africa, agriculture still dominates, but its relative share has been declining since the 1970s, without any prior increase in agricultural productivity or in urban employment. A process of 'de... Show moreIn Africa, agriculture still dominates, but its relative share has been declining since the 1970s, without any prior increase in agricultural productivity or in urban employment. A process of 'de-agrarianization' can be observed in the rural areas involving 1) livelihood reorientation, 2) occupational adjustment, and 3) spatial realignment of human settlement away from strictly agrarian patterns. This publication provides highlights of the papers and discussions which took place during a workshop organized in Leiden in May 1994 to consider the implications of de-agrarianization for sub-Saharan Africa. The publication is divided into a thematic section and nine regional sections: the Sahel, Ethiopia, Ghana and Zaire, Nigeria, Kenya and Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi and Zimbabwe, South Africa, pan-territorial issues. Show less
This paper questions the assumptions of the rural technology debate, reassessing if and how technological interventions and initiatives are potentially valuable to rural women in sub-Saharan Africa... Show moreThis paper questions the assumptions of the rural technology debate, reassessing if and how technological interventions and initiatives are potentially valuable to rural women in sub-Saharan Africa. This entails examining what kinds of technologies are being promoted, and for whom they are being introduced, with comparisons drawn from the Green Revolution experience in South Asia. The first section of the paper discusses rural African women's work regimes, factors contributing to the intensification of African women's workday, and the contraction of African women's access to community-held resources. An assessment of the different purposes and phases in the development and spread of rural technology and its impact on women producers follows. The concluding sections consider the overall utility of rural technology intitiatives in sub-Saharan Africa, emphasizing the challenges that women's severe lack of time and money pose for their appropriate design and distribution. 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
