Rural Development Centers Research Articles

Practitioners’ use of conceptions of mathematical knowledge to enhance early mathematics: A qualitative research approach

Empirical evidence has shown that children’s mathematics achievement in South African has been on the low trend. However, no study has explored the practitioners’ application of conceptions of mathematical knowledge in enhancing learners’ achievement in mathematics. The study examined how practitioners apply mathematical knowledge to enhance early learning of mathematics. In this study, a qualitative research methodology was employed. The study also looked into how teachers in rural early childhood development (ECD) centers use their ideas of mathematical knowledge to foster young children’s early mathematics learning in these environments. The researchers’ investigation into the mathematical expertise held by practitioners and how they apply it in ECD contexts was made possible by mathematical knowledge for teachers theoretical framework, which served as the study’s foundation. In order to help interpret the facts, the study was also set within an interpretivist paradigm. Five practitioners were chosen using a purposive sampling technique from the five ECD centers used for the study. The data were gathered using semi-structured interview questions and observation schedules. The gathered data were examined using a thematic analysis, which resulted in the formation of themes and sub-themes. The study’s findings showed that because the five ECD centers consistently used conventional methods to teach early mathematics to the children who attended the centers, the practitioners in those centers were deficient in their application of conceptions of mathematical knowledge to enhance early learning of mathematics. The need for equipping practitioners with the knowledge and abilities to teach mathematics (subject and pedagogy) in early childhood is strengthened by this study.

Barriers and facilitators of purchasing from short food supply chains in europe: insights from a stakeholder perspective

Thirty-two expert stakeholder (e.g., consumer advice center, state parliament at regional level, European Network for Rural Development, university and research center, chamber of tourism, rural development association, and social cooperative enterprise) interviews were conducted to examine consumer attitudes, values and preferences in relation to short food supply chains. These stakeholders have expertise in policy, consumer behaviour, the tourism sector and regulation. The interviewees represented the views of consumers, producers, and other actors who work with or within short food supply in seven European countries (Belgium, Germany, Greece, Hungary, the Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland). Consumers were generally perceived to be aware of the environmental impact of food production. In terms of preferences, consumers would like to shop for local food the way they shop at the supermarket: having variety of products, accessibility, and availability. The relative lack of convenience and high prices associated with short food supply chains products were seen as the major barriers to their purchase. Consumers were thought to buy the products because of health and environmental benefits, a desire to support their local community, and a preference for tradition. However, relatively few consumers purchase products regularly from SFSC. The main segments are people who believe in short food supply chains values, middle class families with young children and elderly people. More can be done to educate and engage consumers regarding these chains, and market research is needed to inform which strategy is likely to be most effective in specific contexts such as the regional level.

THE ROLE OF AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION CENTERS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT IN IRAQ

The research aims to identify the role of agricultural extension centers in rural development in Iraq from the viewpoint of those working in, by identifying the degree to which agricultural extension centers play their role in rural development in the extension, economic and social fields. The degree to which these centers played their role in each of the aforementioned fields of rural development was determined and the items of these fields are arranged. The research community included (113) agricultural engineers and extensions working in the agricultural extension training centers in the country of (16) extension centers, except for the governorates of the Kurdistan region. The results showed the agreement the views of most the respondents that the extension centers in Iraq play a major and effective role in rural development through carrying out tasks and works in all fields of studied rural development (in general). Likewise, most of the respondents views agreed that the economic field comes at the forefront of these fields and the social field came in the second rank, whereas the extension field came in the last rank. In the researcher’s conclusions, he recommends the necessity of the continuity and support of the Ministry of Agriculture and those in charge of the extension apparatus in Iraq for extension centers due to the importance of its role in agricultural and rural development.

The Effect of Decentralized Concentration on the Spatial Organization of Rural Settlements (Case Study: Molkabad Village Town, Mashhad)

Purpose- In the hierarchical planning of central places, systematic and calculated settlement is based on the desired spatial system, and small cities play a major role in striking balance and equilibrium in the residential system. The role and function of this type of rural centers lay the theoretical basis for strategies of developing a balanced settlement model. The proponents of small towns point to importance of these settlements as service centers in rural development, stressing the construction of a cohesive settlement hierarchy and the effects of top-down distribution. According to their view, small towns are at the forefront of rural and regional development in terms of production and institutional structure, preventing the over-concentration of population and activities in large cities. It is an issue that has deprived these cities of proper economic returns and investment. Design/methodology/approach - In this study, the effect of Molkabad City on the spatial organization of rural settlements is investigated, and research hypotheses are tested using t-test, Wilcoxon, Kruskal-Wallis and WASP. Finding- Of the sample villages in various geographical areas located at varying distances, Derakht-e Sepidar Village has the highest Qi in WASPAS model and is ranked first, thus having the highest spatial development among the sample villages. It is true because this village is located in a plain area adjacent to a dirt road that leads to Molkabad City. In the same region, Razan Village has the lowest Qi in WASPAS model and is ranked last, mainly because this village is located on a plain, but far from communication routes. Further, this village is within the jurisdiction of Binalood Town rather than Molkabad or even the center of its county, Imam Taghi Village. In general, according to the results obtained from the WASPAS model, it can be mentioned that there is a slight difference between the first and the last village and the rate of spatial development in the studied villages is almost identical. That is, it is not pertained to the remoteness and proximity to Molkabad City.

HOPES FOR THE COUNTRYSIDE’S FUTURE. AN ANALYSIS OF TWO ENDOGENOUS DEVELOPMENT EXPERIENCES IN SOUTH-EASTERN GALICIA

The Galician countryside is commonly interpreted as being dominated by a deep socio-economic depression that even the reception of generous European Union rural and regional development funds over the last few decades has not been able to overcome. The aim of this paper is to refine this negative understanding at regional scale by examining specific case-studies at local level through a qualitative study of two self-proclaimed “rural development centres” located in south-eastern Galicia (the province of Ourense). The research is carried out within a theoretical framework on development, based mainly on the core notion of endogenous development. After outlining the regional setting, the selected experiences in the hamlets of Lodoselo (municipality of Sarreaus, district of A Limia) and Arzádegos (municipality of Vilardevós, district of Val de Monterrei) are analysed. The paper concludes by discussing to what extent both initiatives follow endogenous development conception and contribute towards real rural development, thus avoiding the bleak regional picture. The relevance of qualitative readings is stressed in this respect.

Viable and Nonviable Rural Settlements in the Non-Chernozem Zone of Russia: Plans and Reality

For the first time in the geographical literature, an attempt is made to review the results of the rural settlement pattern reconstruction policy carried out in the 1960s–1970s. This policy involved the division of rural settlements (RSs) into viable and nonviable. It included the resettlement of people from small villages to large settlements. The article presents data on the plans and results of resettlement of residents of nonviable villages to central farmsteads of collective (kolkhozes) and state (sovkhozes) farms of Kalinin (currently, Tver) oblast. The official list of viable RSs approved in 1977 is analyzed. The structure of this list, distribution of viable settlements in the oblast, and population dynamics of each RS from 1976 to 2010 are considered. It is shown that viable RSs have been selected illogically: many small settlements were included in the list while many large ones were not. Most of the large viable RSs are concentrated in the central part of the oblast. This is its most developed part, the “Tver triangle” (“apexes” coincide with cities Rzhev, Vyshnii Volochek, and Kimry). Analysis of the population dynamics of viable RSs made it possible to identify several variants of population change from 1976 to 2010: from a significant increase to a decrease in the resident population. In general, the dynamics were negative. The population of more than half of the RSs decreased. Most of the viable RSs were successfully developing and gradually increasing their population as long as there were large kolkhozes. Currently, such RSs account for a significant part of the rural development centers. However, the majority of settlements once classified as nonviable still exist. It is concluded that the policy of resettlement and transformation of rural settlement pattern has failed. It is shown that there is an inadequate understanding of the results of this policy in Russian society and the scientific community. The article is intended as a reminder of the uselessness of volitional decisions aimed at radical changes in settlement pattern.

Turning the Tide on Poverty: History, theoretical frameworks, and methods

Desiring to enhance understanding of the key elements that promote community-based democratic engagement and spur people to engage in the vitality of their communities, in 2008 the Turning the Tide on Poverty project launched in six southern US states. Inspired by the successes of the Horizons project in the northwestern US, Tide was a collaborative effort led by the Southern Rural Development Center with partners that included the Kettering Foundation, Everyday Democracy, the Farm Foundation, and land-grant universities. Researchers and Cooperative Extension personnel from southern universities developed a strategy to involve residents in the process of addressing challenges in their impoverished communities. The purpose of this article is to present a brief history and overview of the project, to locate the project within theoretical frameworks, and to discuss the methods used for data collection and analysis. In so doing, we provide a context for the scholarly examination of Tide that follows in this special collection of Community Development.

Does spatial proximity to small towns matter for rural livelihoods? A propensity score matching analysis in Ethiopia

The spatial dimension of rural–urban linkage has become a new subject of debate in regional development. In most empirical research the focus has usually been on the role of small urban centers in rural development. However, the effects of different particulars of the linkage such as spatial proximity to small towns on income of the hinterlands’ people have been less explored. The central purpose of this paper is, hence, assessing the effect of spatial proximity to small towns on income of the people living in the surrounding rural hinterlands. It also provides a bird’s-eye view of the livelihood strategies used by rural households in using town services. A propensity score matching technique is employed to estimate the effects. It is apparent in the results of the study that, controlling for other confounding factors, spatial proximity to small towns has a significantly positive effect on the income of the people living in the surrounding hinterlands. This notion indirectly leads the households living in the farthest hinterlands to adopt a new coping mechanism, i.e. enhancing their social proximity in a way that compensates the opportunity lost as a result of physical distance.

The potential of community libraries in supporting literate environments and sustaining literacy skills

This article shows how community libraries can create and support literate environments, which are essential for building and sustaining literacy skills in local communities. The paper begins with a subject analysis reviewing available background materials and literature on the topic. Next, relevant issues are considered based on experiences and impact evaluations from specific community libraries, namely Nepal’s Rural Education and Development (READ) Centres. The findings indicate that since their foundation in 1991, READ Centres have evolved from traditional libraries to effective community development centres with a strong focus on social empowerment, economic development and lifelong learning, based on a library concept which is needs-based, community-owned and sustainable.

CAFOs and Environmental Justice: The Case of North Carolina

On the coastal plain of eastern North Carolina, families in certain rural communities daily must deal with the piercing, acrid odor of hog manure—reminiscent of rotten eggs and ammonia—wafting from nearby industrial hog farms. On bad days, the odor invades homes, and people are often forced to cover their mouths and noses when stepping outside. Sometimes, residents say, a fine mist of manure sprinkles nearby homes, cars, and even laundry left on the line to dry.1 Today’s industrial-scale farms—called concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs)—house thousands of animals whose waste is periodically applied to “spray fields” of Bermuda grass or feed crops.2,3 The waste can contain pathogens, heavy metals, and antibiotic-resistant bacteria,4,5 and the spray can reach nearby homes and drinking water sources. The odor plume, which often pervades nearby communities, contains respiratory and eye irritants including hydrogen sulfide and ammonia.6,7,8 A growing body of research suggests these emissions may contribute not only to mucosal irritation9 and respiratory ailments10 in nearby residents but also decreased quality of life,11 mental stress,12,13 and elevated blood pressure.14 The home of a minority family in Kenansville, North Carolina, situated next to a concentrated animal feeding operation, or CAFO. Dust, odors, and manure from CAFOs can reach nearby residents’ homes, including their laundry. Although the Midwest is the traditional home for hogs, with Iowa still the top-producing state, North Carolina went from fifteenth to second in hog production between the mid-1980s and mid-1990s.15 This explosive growth resulted in thousands of CAFOs located in the eastern half of the state—squarely in the so-called Black Belt, a crescent-shaped band throughout the South where slaves worked on plantations.16,17 After emancipation many freed slaves continued to work as sharecroppers and tenant farmers. A century later, black residents of this region still experience high rates of poverty, poor health care, low educational attainment, unemployment, and substandard housing.18,19 The clustering of North Carolina’s hog CAFOs in low-income, minority communities—and the health impacts that accompany them—has raised concerns of environmental injustice and environmental racism.20 As one pair of investigators explained, “[P]eople of color and the poor living in rural communities lacking the political capacity to resist are said to shoulder the adverse socio-economic, environmental, or health related effects of swine waste externalities without sharing in the economic benefits brought by industrialized pork production.”21 Although North Carolina is not the only area with environmental justice concerns vis-a-vis CAFOs, it has become one of the best studied.

School lunches and children′s fruit and vegetable consumption

The average US child consumes no vegetables and less than half a cup of fruit per day. Children that participate in school meals eat slightly more vegetables and fruit (FV) than children who do not. Given the number and types of FV available in school meals programs based on School Meals Initiative Guidance, children have the opportunity to eat many more FV at school each day. The purpose of this study was to examine what factors in a school cafeteria might explain low FV consumption. We conducted a photographic plate waste study at a SC elementary school and used ethnographic notes to document the cafeteria environment. Photos were taken of 183 trays at the time of payment and at the disposal of the uneaten portion. Photos were compared and food consumption data of FV, entrées, and a la carte items (ALC) were recorded as none, bite, ¼, ½, 3/4, or whole. Bi‐variate analysis was conducted using STATA 12. The data revealed the influence of offer versus serve and a la carte snacks in an otherwise excellent cafeteria environment. Fruits were offered while vegetables were served and the percentage of students who had at least a bite was greater for vegetables (54.1%) than fruit (31.2%). ALC negatively influenced the amount of FV children consumed (mean FV servings= 0.63 in no ALC and 0.25 in ALC, p<0.05) For new guidance on school meals to positively influence diet, other supportive policies are also needed.Grant Funding Source : RIDGE Center for Targeted Studies through the Southern Rural Development Center.

Rural Development and Community Information Centres: An Overview with Special Reference to Karnataka

This paper presents the importance of rural development in the changing context of the society and defines the community information centres (CICs) and their role in disseminating the necessary information to the rural masses. The paper also highlights the important programmes of the Government for upliftment and enhancement of the quality of life in the rural areas of the Karnataka State. It is emphasised that the rural or the gram panchayat libraries must assume a new role of CICs and be instrumental in creating awareness among the rural masses by providing appropriate need-based information for the appropriate utilisation of various schemes and programmes of the government.

Rural Development Centers (Farm Stores) in Afghanistan, Do They Work? The Business Owners' Perspectives

Afghanistan is as country yearning for development and the agricultural sector needs to lead the way. The need for agricultural based businesses was evident throughout the country, rural areas depended businesses that could supply the needed inputs required in agricultural production. This experimental case study describes the yearlong results the USAID funded VEGA P2K development program, the program designed and implemented 12 rural development centers (farm stores) built in Afghanistan during 2009. These businesses provided inputs, credit, wholesaler markets, equipment rental and extension services to farmers. Business owners indicated that all of the aspects of the stores were beneficial to the rural people of Afghanistan.

Children are not fully buffered from experiencing food insecurity

Understanding of household food insecurity has come primarily from mothers' reports. We investigated multiple family members' experiences to advance understanding of how low‐income families manage food resources. A sample of 22 families at risk for food insecurity participated in semi‐structured interviews, with youth (aged 9–16), mothers, and other household adults interviewed separately. Interview transcripts were coded iteratively. Although many parents tried to spare their children from experiencing food hardships, children were not fully buffered, with impacts extending beyond hunger to psycho‐social domains critical for children's growth and development. Children were aware of household food insecurity and took responsibility for trying to make food resources last. Awareness was cognitive (knowing that food is scarce), emotional (worry, sadness, or anger related to food scarcity), and physical (hunger, pain, tiredness, or weakness related to food scarcity). Responsibility was manifested as going along with parental strategies, child strategies for making food last, and child activities for bringing more food or money into the household. Parents were unaware of some of their children's experience of food insecurity. Prevalence and experiences of child food insecurity may be underestimated when based solely on maternal report. Funded by Southern Rural Development Center, USDA ERS RIDGE.

What's in that bottle? Accuracy of infant formula reconstitution among exclusively formula‐feeding mothers in East Tennessee

The project purpose was to assess accuracy of reconstitution of powdered infant formula among exclusively formula‐feeding mothers. Properly reconstituted infant formula provides ~20 kcal/oz (acceptable range: 18‐22 kcal/oz). Over‐dilution of infant formula may lead to an infant who cries more and continues to exhibit hunger cues, potentially leading to early introduction of other foods and fluids and predisposing to child overweight. Mothers of healthy, term infants < 4 mo of age, using powdered infant formula, were recruited from the WIC program and from a university‐housed birth registry. Mothers recorded infant intake for 24 hours and collected a 15 mL sample of infant formula from each bottle offered prior to offering the bottle to the infant. Upon collection of samples mothers were asked several questions regarding preparation of infant formula. Samples were analyzed using the loss on drying method. Twenty‐four hours of samples were collected from 18 mothers and results indicate that, though the average kcal/oz was 18.5, 26% of mothers were consistently over‐diluting the infant formula (<18 kcal/oz), with an overall average range of 14.5‐23 kcal/oz. In addition, results of the questionnaire indicate behaviors may be both intentional and unintentional. It appears that over‐dilution is a potential issue in this formula‐feeding population. Funds: USDA ERS RIDGE Program, Southern Rural Development Center.

Introduction

Communities across the rural landscape are facing a variety of challenges that are raising some important issues about the long-term vitality of these areas. In parts of rural America, the influx of new residents from domestic and/or international migration flows is generating concerns and conflicts associated with the growing volume and diversity of the local population. In other places, responses to these challenges are impacting the very viability of local farm enterprises as a result of consumption of prime agricultural lands for non-agricultural uses. In other communities, the issue is less one of growth and more a matter of addressing the depopulation of the area, a condition that is leading to the slow erosion of the social and economic fabric of these localities. And in still other situations, local leaders and citizens are struggling to rebound from major job losses experienced in their manufacturing and agricultural sectors. The challenge they face is resisting the temptation to attract jobs at whatever cost, and patiently looking for opportunities to recruit or generate quality jobs that are long-term in nature, environmentally friendly, and that add value to the area's current agricultural enterprises. In all of these circumstances, the core issue under consideration is sustainability--finding solutions that work to strengthen or maintain the social, economic, and environmental health of communities over the long-term. One of the seminal pieces on the topic of sustainability is the 1987 study released by the World Commission Environment and Development (commonly referred to as the Brundtland Commission report) titled, Our Common Future. Defining sustainable as development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs, the Commission outlined the three essential components of sustainability: (1) environment: the conservation and enhancement of our environmental and natural resource base; (2) economy: the economies that focus on long-term economic stability and the wise use of our resources; and (3) social: addressing the basic needs of all people (i.e., health, education, participation, equity) while remaining accountable to the critical needs of future generations (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987). Under the leadership of its Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the United Kingdom expanded on the Brundtland Commission report by formulating five key principles of sustainable development: (1) living within our environmental limits and ensuring that the natural resources necessary for life are not impaired; (2) pursuing a strong, healthy and just society by building social cohesion, inclusion, and equal opportunity for all; (3) undertaking sustainable economic activities that offer prosperity and opportunities for all, while minimizing environmental and social costs; (4) promoting strong governance that engages people's creativity and diverse insights; and (5) employing sound science in the pursuit of sustainable practice while taking into account public attitudes and values (Defra, 2006). The five elements embraced by the United Kingdom are aligned with the key recommendations emerging from the 1992 Rio Declaration on Environment and Development (United Nations, 1992) and the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (United Nations, 2002). This special issue of the Journal of the Community Development Society flows from an important partnership created between the Southern Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (S-SARE) and the Southern Rural Development Center. Since 2002, this partnership has funded over 50 projects as part of its jointly sponsored Sustainable Community Innovations Grant Program (SCIG). These grants have been designed to build strong ties between agriculture and local communities, be they in urban or rural settings in the South. …

Spatial Dimensions of Global Governance

Neil Brenner, Bob Jessop, Martin Jones, and Gordon Macleod, State/Space: A Reader (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 2003), 355 pp. Saskia Sassen, ed., Global Networks, Linked Cities (London and New York: Routledge, 2002), 368 pp. Allen J. Scott, ed., Global City-Regions (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002), 467 pp. John Friedmann, The Prospect of Cities (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2002), 194 pp. Groupement Economie Mondiale, Tiers-Monde, Developpement (GEMDEV), under the direction of Annick Osmont and Charles Goldblum, Villes et citadins dans la mondialisation (Paris: Karthala, 2003), 300 pp. World Bank, World Development Report 2003: Sustainable Development in a Dynamic World (Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 2003), 250 pp. Organization for Economic Cooperation and Territorial Outlook (Paris: OECD, 2001), 291 pp. Integrating Rural Development and Small Urban Centers: An Evolving Framework for Effective Regional and Local Economic Development, seminar summary from the Rural Development-Urban Development Joint Seminar, World Bank/IFC Headquarters, Washington, D.C., 18-19 March 2003. United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (UN Habitat), Cities in a Globalizing World: Global Report on Human Settlements 2001 (London: Earthscan Publications, 2001). Spatial development focuses on geographical areas as opposed to sectors or issues. Spatial policy is important because it attempts to tackle global problems and to unite and motivate people. This review examines a number of books and reports that help to realistically relate trends to a norm-driven spatial vision or strategy. Two major problems need addressing. The first is that modernization is pushing the globe in directions that deny many of the ends of the good life for different (any bounded space) and put the environment of the planet at risk for future generations. New spatial visions may be a dialectic join of history and its current unfolding but ought not be dismissed out of hand as mere nostalgia or ideology. Economic growth is a means and not an end--and not the only means. In this review essay, the megacities with sharpening social fragmentation are given as the major examples with repercussions to all other problems. The second is part consequence of the first--that bonds of spatial and social order have broken down with increased interdependency and not been replaced by a new and acceptable global order. The form of spatial governance and government from village to global is taken as the major issue area, and the books are examined for problem trends, objectives, and pathways where the means of global norms and action can begin to move. Global dialogued norms can do three things: set the global spatial vision broad enough to reconcile urban dynamics with rural respect for nature everywhere; give the framework in which bounded communities can decide their own futures; and define transgression and grade intervention by a higher spatial level in the affairs of a lower level--including social justice between communities and the preservation of order. There are two conceptions of vision in the literature: interpretive vision devises strategies to address anticipated spatial development trends; norm-driven vision aims to control and to circumscribe these trends. The prospect of forty-two new megacities inhabited by more than 10 million people being created over the next fifty years, with only one in the developed world, is unsettling. In 2001, of seventeen megacities, four are in developed countries. (1) What is the strategic vision contained in the World Bank's World Development Report 2003 that encourages both global and in-country migration? The report claims that the demand for low-cost labor in developed countries and the supply in poor countries will grow. Neither megacity multiplication nor massive migration flows are victories but rather the defeat of spatial vision. …

Occurrence of fleshy fungi from agricultural fields

Thirteen species of fleshy fungi were identified from two agricultural fields during the 1989 and 1990 growing seasons at the Rural Development Center (RDC) and Horticulture Farm, Coastal Plain Experiment Station, Tifton, Georgia. The three most common fungi wereCoprinus plicatilis, Cyathus olla, andPanaeolina foenisecii. At the former site, residue management practices were established for evaluating crop production and at the Horticulture Farm different crops were grown with conservation tillage employing a Low Input Sustainable Vegetable Production system. Tillage treatments at the RDC were no-till, row-till, ridge-plant, and moldboard-plowing. Residue management of triticale included burning or cutting the stubble at a height of 20 or 60 cm at harvest. At the Horticulture Farm, seven winter cover crops were compared to a fallow control. No significant differences were shown between observations of fungal species and individual treatments at the Horticulture Farm during 1989 and 1990. However, there were treatment differences for observed fungi at the RDC farm on specific dates for both years. Furthermore, no individual treatment(s) during the investigation increased observation rates of specific fungal species. Non-burned debris treatments showed consistently higher populations and diversity of fungi than burn debris plots.

Effects of agricultural development policies on migration in peninsular Malaysia

State planning plays a central role in Malaysia's social and economic development. The government's rural development policies are designed to promote agricultural incomes and help counterbalance ethnic inequalities. The Federal Land Development Authority (FELDA) implements one of the internationally most successful land development and resettlement programs. In this article, we quantify the impact of FELDA settlements on local out-migration rates, linking macro and micro approaches and using data from the Malaysian Family Life Survey, national censuses, and other sources. A model of instantaneous migration rates specifies an individual's migration rate as a function of individual-level sociodemographic characteristics, the level of urbanization of the origin and destination, and the extent of rural development at the district of current residence. Our results show that in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the existence of rural development centers in a district reduced the levels of out-migration to pre-1965 levels.

Small Urban Centers in Rural Development: What Else Is Development Other Than Helping Your Own Home Town?

In our original perspectives and hypotheses on Small Urban Centers in Rural Development in Africa, we stated that these small centers are “the most strategic key to problems of Rural Development…points of articulation between the national systems of marketing, distribution and policy development on the one hand and the interests and productivity of the rural poor on the other.” They are “points of articulation of incentives for greater productivity…at which local rural interests are aggregated and expressed to government and party…sources of new ideas and belief systems…what some would call ‘modernizing centers,’ sources of innovation, politicization, mobilization and national integration” (Southall, 1979: 371). As knowledge grew, our hopeful optimism was punctured and this rosy, positive picture faded. We had recognized the stagnation of the rural sector, the over-centralization and over-bureaucratization of goverments, increasing the fiscal burden, weakening popular local institutions, benefiting mainly elites and even resorting to counterproductive coercion (Southall, 1979b: 375-7). In short, we had recognized that rural development efforts so far have been disappointing and that hypotheses on rural development “must take the form of assuming conditions which do not now prevail.” None the less, with hindsight, we see that our propositions tended to state aspirations as facts, in the wrong tense and the wrong mood. We now recognize in them the same flaws that we still recognize in many other grant-seeking documents. We had also entertained the hypothesis that a three-tiered structure of local points of concentration, somewhat analogous to the Chinese three-tiered commune-production brigade-production team hierarchy, was likely to emerge if positive small center development took place; it was a valid model even without the Maoist ideology (Southall, 1979:377).