Evidence on diversification and de-agrarianisation
In the mid-1990s researchers concluded that, despite the persistent image of sub Saharan Africa, as a continent of “subsistence farmers,” non-farm sources accounted for as much as 40-45% of average household income (Bryceson, 1999). Moreover the share of non-farm incomes as a share of total income appears to be rapidly increasing (Bryceson and Jamal, 1997; Reardon, 1997). They concluded that by the late 1990s perhaps as much as 60-80% of rural household incomes would be derived from non-farm sources.However, there are very large geographic differences in the extent to which this process of de-agrarianisation occurs, , both between countries and between regions. Income studies for rural households in Africa show that reliance on non-farm income can range from between 15 to 93%. In sub-Saharan Africa, a range of 30-50 per cent reliance on non-farm income sources is common; but in southern Africa this figure can be as high as 80-90%. In South Asia, on average, roughly 60% of rural household income comes from non-farm sources; however, this proportion varies widely between landless households and those with access to land for farming.
ReferencesBryceson D.F. and V. Jamal (eds), 1997, Farewell to Farms: De-agrarianisation and Employment in Africa, Research Series No. 10 Leiden: African Studies Centre, pp 3-20.
Reardon T, 1997, Using Evidence of Household Income Diversification to Inform Study of the Rural Nonfarm Labor Market in Africa, World Development, Vol. 25, No. 5, pp. 735-747.
Barrett, Reardon and Webb (2001) Non-farm Income Diversification and Household Livelihood Strategies in Rural Africa Concepts, Dynamics, and Policy Implications
Murray, C. (200?) Changing livelihoods: the Free State, 1990s,
O’Laughlin, B. (2000) Proletarianisation and/or Changing Rural Livelihoods: Forced Labour and Resistance in Colonial Mozambique
Bryceson, D.F. (1999) Sub-Saharan Africa Betwixt and Between: Rural Livelihood Practices and Policies, African Studies Centre Working Paper vol. 43;
Du Toit, A. (2003) Hunger in the Valley of Fruitfulness: Chronic Poverty in Ceres, South Africa.
Last modified at 2005-09-13 10:38