Farewell to Farms De-Agrarianisation and Employment in Africa

About this book

Is Africa's future necessarily rooted in peasant agriculture? The title of this book is deliberately intended to challenge the widely held view that Africa is the world's reserve for peasant farming. African rural populations are themselves moving away from reliance on agriculture. "De-agrarianization" takes the form of urban migration as well as the expansion of non-agricultural activities in rural areas, providing new income sources, occupations and social identities for rural dwellers. Using recent case study evidence from locations throughout the continent, the authors assess the impact of de-agrarianization on household welfare, business performance and national development. The authors' findings reveal new economic and social trajectories during a period of accelerated change. The empirical and theoretical insights aim to prompt awareness of the inadequacy of current policies and the significance of de-agrarianization for Africa's future place in the world division of labour.

Contents

Introduction - de-agrarianization in Sub-Saharan Africa - acknowledging the inevitable. Part 1 Horn of Africa: coping with famine and poverty - the dynamics of non-agricultural rural employment in Darfur, Sudan; farmers without land - the return of landlessness to rural Ethiopia. Part 2 West Africa: not by farming alone - the role of non-farm incomes in rural Hausaland; winners and losers - household fortunes in the urban peripheries of Northern Nigeria; economic activities of the poor in Accra. Part 3 East Africa: Urban trajectories in rural livelihood strategies - household employment patterns in kenya's Coast Province; the rural information sector in Tanzania. Part 4 Southern Africa: non-farm activities and gender in Zimbabwe; of livestock and deadstock: entrepreneurship and tradition on the South African Highveld. Part 5 Current policy issues: rural industries in Africa - hope and hype; labour diversification in rurla Africa - implications for public works programmes. Conclusion - de-agrarianization, blessing or blight?

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