Inclusive Rural Development Research Articles

МОДЕЛІ СОЦІАЛЬНО-ЕКОНОМІЧНОГО РОЗВИТКУ АГРОПРОДОВОЛЬЧОЇ СФЕРИ В УМОВАХ АКТИВІЗАЦІЇ ІННОВАЦІЙНОГО МЕНЕДЖМЕНТУ

State regulation of the processes of social and economic development functions first of all as an ordered system, therefore it is appropriate to consider the process of regulation of processes in the agro-food sector from the point of view of a systemic approach. In turn, the components of the specified system are the goals, tasks, principles, functions of state regulation, as well as subjects that use methods and tools to influence objects, taking into account external and internal factors and aiming at the appropriate result, namely : development of the national economy, positive movement of capital, increasing the sustainability of socio-economic development and growth of the welfare of the country's population. To ensure the socio-economic development of the agri-food sector of Ukraine, and to ensure the effective functioning of economic entities in this sphere, it is necessary to ensure the transition to the investment and innovation model of development. This model should contribute to the formation of a new effective structure of the agro-food sector, ensure its accelerated growth, strengthening of positions on international markets due to increased competitiveness and increasing the export of products that have a higher added value.Innovative activities and projects that ensure social transformations in agriculture should remain the priority areas of investment in the agri-food sector of Ukraine. Along with the modernization of the agro-food sector on an innovative basis, inclusive rural development must be ensured - both as a result and in parallel as a tool of rural socio-economic development, the main task of which is to improve the quality of life, in the process of which economic, social and political rights are realized , it is important to use the advantages of the local environment, which can support the development of the existing potential. The implementation of the process in this capacity ensures the growth of economic opportunities and allows to raise the standard of living in rural areas within the limits of all social groups, especially in relation to women, youth, small farmers, ethnic groups, marginalized strata in conditions of activation of innovative management.

Advancing Rural Entrepreneurship in Rwanda Through Informal Training – Insights From Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed

In this paper we draw attention to the relevance of informal training in entrepreneurship for advancing sustainable and inclusive rural development. Adopting a perspective inspired by Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed, we explore how the informal training facilitated by CARE International’s village savings and loan associations (VSLAs) impacts the lives and livelihoods of members of these associations in a rural region of Rwanda. Based on our findings from a qualitative interview study of multiple stakeholders, we show how this informal training is facilitated through CARE’s train-the-trainer methodology and through regular dialogue, peer feedback and reflection at weekly group meetings. Our analysis highlights how such training emancipates and empowers participants, enabling them to act more reflectively and make more informed decisions in their efforts to improve their socioeconomic circumstances through entrepreneurial activities. Whereas prior research has tended to measure the impacts of membership in VSLAs on financial outcomes quantitatively, our qualitative study explores how VSLAs also contribute to the creation not only of economic but socio-cultural value in rural settings.

Environmental change impacts and inclusive rural tourism development on the livelihoods of native societies: evidence from Musina Municipality, South Africa

PurposeThis study aims to explore the latent potential of alternative-responsible tourism and ecotourism leadership in sustainable tourism and the sustenance of rural communities in Musina Municipality in Limpopo Province, South Africa. It also sought to compare this potential with other African pastoral areas and to integrate it with various rural sites elsewhere abroad.Design/methodology/approachNarrative literature, document reviews, interviews and focus group discussions were used to garner relevant data and were analyzed through cross-tabulation analysis and manually. On this account, probable climate change-bound environmental consequences, rural, tourism, farming and ecological administration issues came to the forefront.FindingsThe examination correlates the potential position of proper ecotourism exercises and responsible tourism as an agreeable path to promote sustainability in rural localities. Subsequently, upon apparent countryside products, ecotourism and farming exercises glimpsed in the study area, environmental degradation poses a conceivable hazard to natural resource governance. Hereafter, it aggravates the possibilities for climate change effects and poor subsistence.Originality/valueThe rich biodiversity in the study area provides platforms for sustainable rural tourism enterprises and addresses any pertinent concerns. Thus, the study has manifested a demand for a creative tourism approach and innovations against environmental change outcomes and to capacitate Musina Municipality residents and probably others elsewhere on the continent to engage in ethical tourism initiatives and sustainable livelihoods.

A rural‐centric model for understanding women's later life precarity in an agrarian economy in Uganda

AbstractAging as a woman within the context of agricultural transformation where production and consumption values shape everyday life raises concerns of later life precarity. Gender economic inclusion is imperative in the achievement of inclusive rural development. But there is a tendency to homogenize female experiences of poverty based on gender and class, ignoring the impact of global economic and social changes on Uganda's rural economy and the elderly. Furthermore, in the agrarian context, precarity hinges on gender images of a desirable agricultural worker and neoliberal policies that exacerbate vulnerabilities of elderly women already living on the economic margins of global capitalism. Drawing on rural‐dwelling older women's narratives, this article reveals that precarity in an environment of agrarian capitalism is a product of conflict between the desire to maintain relationships of reciprocity and engagement in production. In this article, a five‐tier rural‐centric model relevant to conceptualizing risk factors to precarity is proposed. The model is influenced by the Bourdieusian theory of capital and Gudeman's economy theory. The model provides an opportunity to re‐imagine and situate older women's later life precarity within the wider sociopolitical and economic context, and consequently design appropriate social protection initiatives.

An in-depth analysis of the entrepreneurship of rural Chinese mothers and the digital inclusive finance

Rural mothers' entrepreneurial behavior is critical to promoting inclusive rural economic development. However, these women are constrained by family responsibilities, economic substandard and severe financial exclusion. Fortunately, the development of digital inclusive finance has successfully broken such exclusions, thus allowing entrepreneur mothers to achieve some financial success. Applying the 2017 China General Social Survey and the Peking University Digital Inclusive Finance Index, this paper explores the impact of digital inclusive finance on rural mothers' entrepreneurship and the transmission mechanism using the Probit model. In fact, due to digital inclusive finance, rural mothers' entrepreneurship increased by 4.6%. In addition, this paper finds the impact of this digital inclusive finance on entrepreneurship, in general, is more significant on mothers in less developed areas and with high levels of education than on those in developed regions and with low levels of education. Meanwhile, using the transmission mechanism for analysis, the paper found the role of digital inclusive finance in inciting entrepreneurship among rural mothers. This mainly comes through two channels: the gender equality effect and the information learning effect.

What would others say? Exploring gendered and caste-based social norms in Central India through vignettes

Social norms can determine the effectiveness of agricultural research-and-development (R&D) interventions to enable inclusive rural development. However, only a few methods have been tested and deemed appropriate to assess the strength of social norms in empirical research. In this paper, we explore the potential of vignettes to study gender norms across different caste groups in the Indian rurality. The primary data were collected through a gender-differentiated survey among 420 wheat-farming households in 18 rural villages of Central India in 2018. The data analysis showed significant inter- and intra-household heterogeneities concerning individuals' realization of social norms as factors curtailing individual aspirations. When the follow-up responses were evaluated against respondents' socio-cultural context, we found that respondents from marginalized castes, women, and young people were more pro-women in their outlook than others. We also found that the individual responses elicited from women farmers were strongly associated with their decision-making abilities and could be employed in empirical studies concerning various R&D interventions and technological change.

Дотаційність бюджетів територіальних громад як фінансовий механізм інклюзивного сільського розвитку

Equalising the financial capacity of different settlements and territories was in the spotlight of the state authorities at all stages of development. In the context of decentralisation and focusing on goal achievement of sustainable, inclusive development, the principles of horizontal equalisation of the tax capacity of territories were changed, and a new model of budgetary relations was introduced. The article analysed the results of the new model implementation, investigated the transfer dependence of local budgets with centres in villages, towns, and cities, and considered subsidies as a mechanism for inclusive rural development. It was determined that due to financial decentralisation and strengthening of the fiscal capacity of communities through increased tax revenue by an average of 27%, the share of subsidised local budgets decreased from 95% in the pre-reform period to 75% in 2021. It is estimated that rural territorial communities are the most transfer-dependent, and among the recipients of the basic subsidy as a tool to support the territory`s fiscal capacity, their share is 45,3 %; among township communities – 31%; and among urban communities – 21,9 %. It is substantiated that the lack of financial resources and significant dependence on central budget support is due to the weak rural labour market and the predominance of informal employment (employment without taxes). And the dispersed rural settlement network, the higher cost of services per capita, the long-term decline of infrastructure and, accordingly, the higher cost of its restoration, requires additional subventions to maintain the multifunctionality of rural areas. This underlines the need to introduce special mechanisms of financial support for villages, considering the shortcomings of previous year’s subsidies. Using the example of infrastructure subvention of territorial communities, the amount of which depended on the number of the rural population, proved that the distribution of funds is inconsistent with the principles of inclusion. Further research will focus on the financial resources of communities and the development of mechanisms for equitable distribution and use among all settlement units to enhance the inclusiveness of rural development. The new challenges caused by russian federation’s war against Ukraine will require the development of updated methods of state financial support for territorial communities. It will be based on a realistic estimate of the number of people living in communities at the end of the war, the value of destroyed and damaged property, etc. In the short term, local self-government bodies will prioritise efforts for rapid and qualitative recovery, redefining community development strategies with stronger inclusiveness and realistically estimating the number of people for whom and with the help of which the development of the country will take place.

European Rural Demographic Strategies: Foreshadowing Post-Lisbon Rural Development Policy?

The European Commission’s Long-term Vision for Rural Areas, published in June 2021 and building on a previous report on the Impact of Demographic Change and a Green Paper on Ageing, underlines the importance of population trends as a key issue for EU rural policy. The increasing concern about demographic issues, especially in rural Europe, has been accompanied, and in some cases preceded, by the publication of national population strategies. This renewed interest within the European policy community probably has roots in politics rather than new research or fresh evidence. Rural depopulation is not a new phenomenon, nor is it a new research topic. Nevertheless, to better understand this renewed interest, it is instructive to review recent scholarship and consider whether there is any evidence that the processes and systems of rural and regional (demographic) development are delivering new kinds of challenges, requiring refreshed policy approaches. Having established this context, we present a comparative review of a selection of national strategies, identifying shifting perspectives on goals, the instruments proposed, and implied intervention logics. Arguably, cumulative evidence points to an incremental shift of the policy discourse away from neoliberal, Lisbon-inspired visions of rural competitiveness and cost-effectiveness and towards a quest for rural well-being, rights to basic services, and more (spatially) inclusive rural development. This increasing emphasis on qualitative change may be symptomatic of a wider shift in the zeitgeist of rural policy, reflecting a number of globalised trends, including an awareness of the potentials and limitations associated with changing patterns of inter and intra-regional mobility.

The implications of sugarcane contract farming on land rights, labor, and food security in the Bunyoro sub-region, Uganda

Over the years, the Ugandan government had been promoting agricultural commercialization to become a middle-income economy by 2020. In 2012, the president remarked that if all the 40 million acres of arable land were put to full potential, everyone would be richer. Sugarcane commercialization, in the form of contract farming, has been praised as one of the preferred instruments to promote it, leading to the emergence of large and medium sugar corporations in Uganda’s countryside. The study aims to provide insights into the commercialization process of smallholder agriculture through sugarcane contract farming (CF) and the implications on land rights, labor relations, and rural livelihoods, taking Uganda’s Bunyoro sub-region as a case. To achieve this objective, the study used a qualitative approach and carried out in-depth interviews with a total of 75 participants who were directly affected by the actions of the sugar production and or participated in the CF scheme (as outgrowers) as well as factory officials. The findings highlight that the wave of CF schemes around sugar, which was engineered by a convergence of power and interest between the Ugandan state and Indian capital investments, adversely integrates rural farmers into sugar commodity production networks amidst unequal contractual relations, expanding agro-extractivist search for cheap land and labor rather than bringing inclusive rural development.

Book Review of Inclusive Rural Development Through Dairy Cooperatives by Dilip Shah

Book Review of Inclusive Rural Development Through Dairy Cooperatives by Dilip Shah

Are agro‐clusters pro‐poor? Evidence from Ethiopia

AbstractGovernments and development agencies increasingly promote agro‐clusters as a pathway to improving smallholder incomes and ensuring inclusive rural development through mitigating production and market risks. However, there is very limited empirical evidence to support this promise. We use a large farm household survey of about 4000 smallholder farmers in Ethiopia growing cereals like teff, maize, wheat, maltbarley and sesame to examine the relationship between agro‐clusters and smallholder welfare and poverty. Using instrumental variable estimators, we establish a positive association between agro‐clusters, household income and per capita income. Agro‐clusters are also shown to reduce poverty and poverty gaps. Our results are robust over different agro‐cluster proxies and alternative estimators, such as the augmented inverse probability weighting estimator. We also show that our findings are unlikely to be driven by omitted variable bias. Moving beyond average effects and in the interest of understanding heterogeneous effects, we use quantile regressions at different income levels. We find that agro‐clusters are associated with welfare gains for all households. However, the most significant gains are observed for the wealthier households. Despite this regressive association, our findings suggest that agro‐clusters may be useful in making farming more profitable with significant welfare implications.

State Support for the Agricultural Sector in the Context of Inclusive Rural Development

The agrarian sector as a system-forming sphere of the rural economy becomes decisive for rural development based on inclusiveness. The influence of the state on the development of the sector by means of financial support should not only contribute to strengthening the production capacity and competitive advantages of commodity producers, but also have a positive impact on the development of rural areas and increase the opportunities for attracting the population to public life. These tasks are being updated in the context of a long-term budget deficit, in particular, aggravated by the conduct of military operations and the need to direct public funds in areas with the greatest multiplicative effect. The purpose of the study is to investigate the impact of state financial support for the agricultural sector on rural development from the standpoint of compliance with the principles of sustainability and ensuring the inclusivity of socio-economic development. To achieve this goal, the study used: general logical methods of analysis and synthesis in the development of laws regulating the system of state support in Ukraine; statistical and economic methods for grouping recipients of state support by different statuses, programmes, areas; methods of mathematical analysis to assess the dynamics of indicators and identify patterns of distribution of support funds, calculating the dependence of budgets of territorial communities on agricultural production. Tabular and graphical methods were used to visualise the results of the study. The abstract and logical method was used to generalise conclusions and formulate proposals. Based on the study results, including the analysis of the agricultural companies that received the most financial support from the state in three years, the public irrationality of the existing distribution of state support is substantiated, which leads to an increase in the gap between the production capacities of farmers, strengthening the uneven development of the agricultural sector and rural areas as a whole. The implemented improvement of legislative norms is not reflected in the practical plane, so the trend of asymmetric distribution of funds in favour of large businesses remains. The study argues for the need to introduce a number of changes in the system of distribution and use of state financial support for the agricultural sector, concerning regulatory support and control over its implementation, strengthening requirements for recipients of funds in terms of economic and social responsibility to promote rural development based on the principles of inclusivity. One of the conditions for all programmes funded by the state should be the prioritisation of achieving a social effect and maintaining sustainable development. Taking into account the proposed changes would help to preserve the multi-complexity of agriculture and the sustainability of food systems, expand the circle of recipients of support and strengthen the financial stability of small producers, increase revenues to local budgets, and increase the efficiency of using public finances in terms of their public function, achievement of a synergistic effect from the use of budget funds in the economic, social, and environmental spheres, establishment of sustainable foundations of rural development on an inclusive basis.

Engaging Smallholders in Flower Agribusiness for Inclusive Rural Development: The Case of Yunnan, China

Serious farmland scarcities make smallholders a default mode for China’s agriculture, which makes efficient and equitable rural development a great challenge. Tensions lead to alternation between autonomous family farming and coordinated collective agriculture. Rapid urbanization since the 1980s has strongly stimulated flower-growing and agribusiness in Yunnan, China. The organization for commercial flower-farming is, however, an issue. Officially promoted for collective farming, voluntary cooperatives are wrecked by the free-riding problem. Grower associations nevertheless spontaneously emerge, with the flexible entry and exit of members without binding joint-assets and joint-ownership, which is facilitated by technological changes to the transaction. Empirical investigation in Tonghai, Yunnan, unveiled the institution of agribusiness–smallholder partnership for inclusive rural development. Smallholders have actively participated in flower agriculture, which has contributed significantly to the development of rural economies. The high casualty of micro-smallholders suggests that farm size is an important and crucial factor for sustainable farming. Effective rural development has to be supported by endogenous non-agricultural jobs so that farm size can be increased.

Inclusive Development of Rural Areas in the Context of Decentralization of Power: Problems and Priorities

The article, based on the results of the assessment of trends in the main socio-economic indicators, shows the role of rural areas in the economy of Ukraine and systematizes the factors that hinder their further effective development. The expediency of introducing an inclusive approach to rural development in the context of decentralization of power is substantiated. Based on the main provisions of the concept of inclusive development and the peculiarities of its manifestation at the level of rural areas, the meaning of the concept of «inclusive rural development» is revealed. The inconsistency of the development of rural settlements with the criteria of «inclusiveness» and their significant lag behind the level of development of urban areas has been established. The use of state social standards as a basis for determining the criteria for inclusive rural development is proposed. The main tools for the management of inclusive development of rural areas are systematized, the peculiarities of their use in the context of ensuring the implementation of the priority tasks identified in the National Economic Strategy are shown and recommendations for their improvement are formulated. In particular, it is proposed to amend the current legislation in order to consolidate the powers of local governments to ensure local development based on an inclusive approach. The necessity of adopting the Concept of Inclusive Rural Development at the state level with the definition of relevant criteria, tools and implementation mechanisms responsible for the results of the inclusive approach introduction as well as the coordination of tasks of strategic and current planning documents related to rural development on an inclusive basis is substantiated. The role of planning as the main tool for implementing an inclusive approach to rural development is revealed. The development of unified methodological recommendations for use in the process of rural development planning by specialists of local self-government bodies is proposed. Emphasis is placed on the need to monitor the development of rural areas by key indicators which will serve as a tool to prevent the growth of socio-economic disparities in rural areas. Recommendations are given on the areas of increasing the financial capacity of rural areas through more active stimulation of business development, including non-agricultural activities, as well as through direct access to financial services markets. The decisive role of staffing of local self-government bodies in the implementation of the effective policy of inclusive rural development is emphasized and proposals on the basic directions of training specialists-practitioners in modern conditions are provided.

Small-scale Farming and Access to Market: Challenges and Opportunities in South Africa

The paper has aimed to explore the effectiveness of small-scale farmers in improving household income and food security, particularly looking at the barriers to market access in rural areas. This study was undertaken in rural areas of Kanyamazane, Clau-Clau and Nyongane, South Africa, where small-scale producers depend on low-risk and low-return markets to generate household income from production, thus ensuring food security. To achieve the aim of this study, a qualitative approach was used to provide in-depth interpretation of the perspectives, experiences, and behavioural patterns of the small-scale farmers faced with market related issues. Small-scale farmers, agricultural extension officers, and municipal officials were purposefully selected to share their views, perceptions, and experiences on the effectiveness in accessing markets. The findings revealed that there was limited access to formal markets by small-scale farmers because of limited knowledge and capacity to meet market requirements. The study confirmed that a lack of marketing skills, institutional support services, and limited access to arable land, have directly negative effects on achieving livelihood outcomes. This study recommends a sustainable crop production method which reduces the costs of farming resources, such as pesticide and fertilizer, through organic methods to ensure food safety and enhanced nutrient quality. This study further encourages inclusive rural development, where small-scale producers are treated as stakeholders in agricultural policy formulation to enable access to financial resources and increase in production through the formation of cooperatives.

The fragmented politics of sugarcane contract farming in Uganda

AbstractIn the last decade, contract farming has regained momentum among policymakers and global development agencies as a tool to promote inclusive rural development and responsible investments. Integrating smallholders within global, regional and national agricultural value chains, we are told, represents the sine qua non for alleviating rural poverty. In Uganda, under the label of out‐grower schemes, contract farming is currently undergoing massive expansion, driven especially by the boom in sugarcane cultivation. Drawing from three case studies of sugarcane contract farming in Uganda, the paper re‐politicizes the debate around contract farming by looking at the power relations within which these schemes are embedded. We argue, what is seen in Uganda's expansion is a political dynamic derived both from the major dislocations and dispossessions required to establish the plantation estate and its work force, as well as from the effort to bring many smallholders using unimproved methods on land with sometimes unclear tenure arrangements into contracted arrangements for supplying sugarcane. The result has been highly contentious politics around sugar's expansion, where struggles over land dispossession merge with those around exploitative wage labour, around the loss and transformation of livelihoods, and around debt, power inequalities and environmental harm, a matrix in which state violence and co‐optation are ever‐present.

Family agriculture for inclusive rural development

Family agriculture for inclusive rural development

Правові засади сільської гостинності в умовах інклюзивного сільського розвитку

The scientific and theoretical analysis of the legal basis of rural hospitality in Ukraine in terms of inclusive rural development is provided in this article. Particular attention is paid to justifying the necessity of developing and adopting a special law that would define the general legal, organizational and socio-economic principles of regulating the activities of citizens in this sphere. It is noted that the draft of Law of Ukraine «On Stimulating the Development of Rural Hospitality in Ukraine» is characterized by a number of positive features. There are: rural hospitality is defined as a diversified activity that can be carried out by each house hold located in the rural areas; the provision of rural hospitality services is not a business activity (Article 3 of theDraft). Thus, today a process of formation of the legislation in the sphere of rural hospitality takes place. Such legislation is aimed at creating the foundations for the broad involvement of the rural population in the provision of tourist services, improving its economic situation. This contributes to improving the level and quality of life in the rural areas, and ensuring inclusive rural development. Keywords: inclusive rural development, rural green tourism, rural hospitality, rural area, rural population, private peasant farm

Legal basis of rural hospitality in the context of inclusive rural development

The article provides a scientific and theoretical analysis of the legal framework of rural hospitality in Ukraine in the context of inclusive rural development. Special attention is paid to the justification of the expediency of developing and adopting a special law which would define the general legal, organizational, socio-economic principles of regulation of citizens’ activities in this area. It is noted that the draft Law of Ukraine “On Stimulating the Development of Rural Hospitality in Ukraine” is characterized by a number of positive features. These include the following: rural hospitality is defined as a diversified activity that can be carried out by any household located in rural areas; the provision of rural hospitality services is not an entrepreneurial activity (Article 3 of the draft). Thus, the process of establishing legislation in the field of rural hospitality is currently underway. It is aimed at creating a framework for broader involvement of the rural population in the provision of tourism services and improving their economic situation. This contributes to improving the level and quality of life in rural areas, and thus to ensuring inclusive rural development.

English

Undertaking non-agrarian income-generating activities to reduce overreliance on agriculture, production failures, and income fluctuations is a household-amenable, self-insurance mechanism, which provides employment opportunities and capital investment. This article examines the determinants of participation in non-farm activities and effect on household income. Heckman two-step procedure was used to analyze a three-wave survey data set captured from 3866 households. Crop failures, insufficient intake of food, household consumption expenditure, gender, family size, literacy, health status, farm animals holding, access to credit, total hired labor, cooperative membership and agricultural extension services were factors influencing household involvement in non-farm work. Furthermore, the findings establish that there is a decline in the likelihood of households headed by aged people, who tend to rely on subsistence farming to engage in alternative non-agrarian activities. The results of the analyses support the non-separability hypothesis of non-farm activities and household income; this implies that engaging in non-agricultural activities has a direct positive effect on household income. The omnipresence of non-agrarian income generating activities in agro-ecoregions requires inclusive rural development policies that focus beyond agriculture based on the recognition of the rural economic heterogeneity. Key words: Rural development, non-farm activities, household income, Heckman Two-Step model, Ethiopia.