Rural Development in the North and in the South - Case Study Example

Rural development had entirely different tracjectories for the countries of the North and South. Rural development has virtually stunted in the Nigerand had developed retrogressively over many years due to government apathy and ineptitude. Structural deficiencies and institutional weaknesses also pose serious challenges to heightened development in Niger. Rural development has changed its face in the North and the scenic village has been changed gradually into consumption-driven entities. The residents of the village had chosen to make themselves available for service industries composed of tourist-related occupations instead of working as farmers. Definition of rural Farming is regarded as the mainstay of a rural economy. Hence, for an area to be regarded as "rural", it must have a thriving farm and poultry community. Rural Development in the South Poverty alleviation and addressing the problem of hunger remains as the priority action areas for the Niger government. Persistent landlessness, lack of business opportunities and child hunger erode the initial gains made in Niger placed last out of a total of 177 countries on the United Nations list in 2007. The U.N. aid had stated that 300,000 children under the age of five facing the risk of death from malnutrition every year in the Sahel region which encompasses Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, among others. The hunger problem which afflicted the country had stemmed from the apathy that was present in the Niger government. Thus, the government failed to fulfill its serious obligation to provide food to its citizens. (Mousseau and Millant, 2007) Business conditions have dire prospects. Niger's population lives on less than a dollar a day. The per capita gross domestic product (GDP) was $320 in 2007. Approximately 40 percent of the Niger children suffer from chronic malnutrition and Niger's less than five years old mortality rate is very high. (Mosseau and Mittal, 2006) The regional integration of West African countries via the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), meant to assure an adequate food supply in the region. However, this organization failed to establish a regulatory mechanism that to ensure food supply and stable food prices. Irregular food production, exchange rates, government policies, international commodity prices, and regional conflicts exacerbated the hunger crisis. High food prices led to the sale of livestock, capital goods, and land, thus putting more people at a high poverty risk. The Government must do three tasks. First, attain food availability for all of its citizens soon. It has done this based on recent developments. The Board of Directors of the World Bank's International Development Association (IDA) had approved the request of the Niger Government for a grant of CFAF 3 billion (US$7 million) to finance the Emergency Food Security Support Project in August 2008. The main objectives of the grant are to provide support for irrigated rice production and to achieve household food security.The State of Niger will supplement this grant with resources derived from mineral exploitation. The hike in the food prices during the Ramadan period made the Government subsidize the prices of consumed food products. This operation provided 3,000 metric tons of rice and sugar on the market at half the real price. The Government has channelled CFAF 11 billion (US$25 million) for trade channels for the marketing of cowpea. Second, the government must establish an arrangement with its major food suppliers to deliver food to the country on a regular basis by setting up a Food Exchange Market and funding it through its mineral resources. Third, the government can promote a holistic training in skills and education to make available a healthy and well-educated work force which can generate substantial income for their families and communities. Rural development in the North Rural development is responsible for economic regeneration among the countries in the North, particularly the UK. Improving productivity in the farming and food industry has been helped by intense government support in terms of financial, technical and business advisory skills. The trajectory of rural development in the North had improved the economic and health status of the rural communities. Agriculture was a prominent feature of the rural economy. Some public funds were channelled to make agriculture and forestry more competitive and sustainable and to enhance opportunity in rural areas. The UK's Rural Development Programme focuses on agri-environment and other land management schemes. This funding will aid farmers to develop the land and deliver important results for biodiversity, landscape, water quality and climate change. Rural life and landscape flowed from a symbiosis: the stewardship of land, direct and indirect employment, attractive landscapes. The aim of all the legislation in the immediate post-war years was directed to the emphasis of agriculture as the key of the countryside. The development of rural landscapes had also seen the emergence of new roles for the countryside. The increased interest in informal recreation from the urban citizens had heralded a recreation boom three decades later. The opening of new housing areas adjacent to the arterial roads and the growth of industry in small market towns led to counterurban movements. Through the growth of recreation, leisure and entertainment aspects, the dominance of agriculture had been eroded. In a sense, the rural areas or the British countryside has many legitimate claimants in the present times. The single-minded view of the countryside had been changed permanently. New areas of housing and new forms of jobs, evolving nature conservation and landscape, multiple farm activities, developments in recreational access and diversification of common areas are the new factors of rural development. An essential feature of rural development was the provision of good access to services. This easy access to transport paved the way for higher levels of economic productivity and social inclusion. In rural areas, residents work in local towns while those living in towns often work in the countryside. Hence, access to reliable transport is very important. In Britain and England, there was a growing concern for the establishment of National Parks and nature conservation areas after 1945. These efforts were given statutory recognition by legislation and public institutions were erected to discharge new roles and functions. (Cherry and Rogers, 1996) The rural landscape was slowly changing. The Gloucestershire case study is based on a photographic record and personal observation of a parish less than thirty kilometres from the western border of the 1941 Oxfordshire study. The settlement pattern consists of a core village and an outlying hamlet. The core village contains the shop, the primary school, the village hall and the church. It has a sports field and buildings used by cricket and football clubs. The pub serves to reinforce social relaton in the community. The land area is a combination of 85% farmland and 15% woodland. Of the farmland, about half is pasture and half ploughed land, with the principal crops composed by cereals and oilseed rape. The principal form of livestock is sheep. Horses are bred for personal household use as well as for racing. The woodland is used mainly for pheasant shooting. The birds are bred in captivity then released to be shot. (Slee, 2006) The disparities in wealth are evident in the conspicuous consumption between the large homes and the more modest council houses. There are new affluent homes. The work of production has been replaced by service work in tourism and recreation sites. The pub-restaurant employs many people in the rural areas. In essence, this village has become the opposite of what we used to think of as a rural community. A traditional concept of a rural community was it was basically self-contained and exported primary products out of the village. However, the new rural village now imports people as residents and more touristse to consume their products in the pub and in the Bed and Breakfast businesses. It has many people who commute to work and inject their urban-gained wealth into the rural community. It provides employment for the construction industry. The quarries are kept open to feed these economies of consumption. Most employees are gamekeepers or a stable assistants rather than a farm worker. This change in village life has happened gradually over time. (Slee, 2006) The majority of rural areas in Britain are relatively prosperous. If measured in terms of average household income, approximately 55% of households in rural areas are above the median, and 28% are in the top quartile. The UK Government works to ensure that rural areas really prosper and contribute to national growth. National policies had put great emphasis on the development of technical skills, business support, planning and ancillary infrastructure in rural areas. A new entry and higher-tier agri-environment schemes made the supply of learning provision highly relevant to rural business needs and had improved its service delivery. The proposals covered increasing the effectiveness of current knowledge transfer arrangements and the setting up of effective business improvement tools and establishing social enterprises. (Cherry and Rogers, 1996) Moreover, tourism had also served as the pillar of growth of the Badenoch and Strathspey district of Highland region of Scotland. Direct tourism employment is abundant in this region. This is a region which features large sporting estates which signified substantial tourism investment in the 19th century. These, plus the high quality of the natural environment and the recognition of the region as a tourist attraction had attracted public funds for tourism infrastructure development since the 1960s. (Slee, 2006) Rural development had also been influenced by the works of Esther Boserup and Thomas Malthus. Esther Boserup had put forward the contention that population increase had encouraged technological change leading to a better quality of life. She had explained that during the early Stone Age in Denmark, before 4000 BC, most of the Danes lived a beach where they fed on oysters. Despite the lifestyle, life expectancy was less than 30 years, and superstition prevailed. Then as agriculture started and expanded from BC 4000-3900, Denmark became an agricultural powerhouse. Boserup's theory on population states that a large population is manageable as long as there are efforts to improve the productivity of the food supply. The farmers can cultivate the land by adding extra manure, extra fertiliser and water. Then they can double the harvest. In this way, they escape the Malthusian food trap. Indeed, the Malthusian trap may even drive the development of technology. Boserup had formulated her ideas in consonance with traditional farm production methods prevalent in South East Asia. (Boserup, 1998) Thomas Malthus has stated that population, when it grows unchecked, increases in a geometrical ratio. In contrast, the subsistence for man increases in an arithmetical ratio. Early marriages happen. The power of the population increases in a way that goes perfectly unchecked. (Malthus, 1926) The relevance of the Malthusian theory is that if rural communities had less population, then there will be a lesser burden for the community to achieve a certain income goal. (Raphael, et. al., 1997). The main challenge of the rural areas in the North and South are sustainability. In Niger, the challenge to the government and to the international donor and funding community is that of combatting hunger and working for food and economic security. The country needs to show productivity in agriculture and food production. Similarly, the challenge in the rural areas of the North is sustainability in the recreation and tourism industry. Countries of the North and South America, Western Europe, Australia, and New Zealand make use of their natural environment for tourism and recreation. Tourism is the second largest industry in the world. A potential threat to this strength is that tourism relies on wealth and affluence. If an economic crisis happens in developed countries, tourism slows down. Another threat is that tourism and amenity jobs are low paying jobs. A third threat is that tourism is seasonal, hence, the industry demand the cheapest labor available. Thus, by foregoing the regular farming activities, the rural areas continue to attempt to attain the goal of greater economic sustainability based on tourism. Rural development becomes an elusive and at the same time, an achievable goal. References Boserup, Esther. 1998. My Professional Life and Publications, 1929-1998. Museum Tuscalanum University: University of Copenhagen. Cherry, Gordon and Alan Rogers. 1996. Rural Change and Planning: England and Wales in the Twentieth Century. London: E & FN Spon. Malthus, Thomas. 1926. First Essay on Population, 1798. London: Macmillan. Mosseau, Frederick and Anuradha Mittal. 2006. Sahel: A Prisoner of Starvation: Case Study of the Food Crises of Niger. New York:The Oakland Institute. "Niger Responds to the Food Security Crisis". The World Bank Press Release. October 4, 2008. Raphael, D, Donald Winch and Robert Skidelsky. 1997. Three Great Economists: Smith, Malthus, Keynes. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Place of Publication: Oxford. Slee, Bill. 2007. "From Countrysides of Production to Countrysides of Consumption: the Implications for Rural Areas". Countryside and Community Research Unit, University of Gloucestershire. Read More