The rural non-farm economy livelihoods and their diversification: issues and options (NRI report no. 2753)

This report summarises the findings from more than 55 studies of rural economies and the rural non-farm economy (RNFE), most of them financed by DFID. It relates these to the existing understanding of the RNFE in the literature and tries to draw out policy implications. In brief it reports that: · The RNFE is an important part of the rural economy in almost every case, providing between 40 and 60% of incomes and jobs in rural areas; · Much of RNF activity arises in trading and in the processing of agricultural and other primary products. Rural manufacturing tends to comprise only a small part of the RNFE; · Much of the RNFE provides goods and services for the local, rural economy. Little of it is tradable and earns incomes outside of the immediate rural context. In large part, then, its growth depends on that of other rural activities, above all, agriculture; · The RNFE may be seen as divided into much activity that is small-scale, uses little capital, and which is low productivity and offers low returns, often little better than farm labouring; and activities that operate at larger scale, with more capital investment, and generating better returns to labour than can be had in most kinds of farming; · Since the former category is accessible to the rural poor, the RNFE is essential in mitigating poverty and preventing destitution, but it is less clear that it can eradicate poverty. Moreover, since it is the better-off who can generally access the well-rewarded RNF activities, the RNFE may exacerbate inequalities. But much depends on the ability of RNF enterprises to create jobs and so distribute the benefits across rural societies. At the same time, if some rural non-farm activities provide support to growth sectors (e.g. in the case of agriculture, input supply, equipment manufacturing and distribution, transport, repairs, etc) then it may indirectly play an important role in poverty alleviation by enabling poverty reduction elsewhere (in this case in agriculture)

Key emerging and conceptual issues in the development of the RNFE in developing countries and transition economies

The purpose of this paper is to outline key emerging and conceptual issues in the development of the rural non-farm economy in less developed countries (LDCs) and transition economies. It is based on a conceptual framework where the rural non-farm economy (RNFE) is discussed as being either part of a growth strategy for the economy, or as a "defensive" survival strategy for the rural poor. For most rural people in developing and transitional economies, rural non-farm activities are part of a total livelihood activity set that includes farming: that is they are part of a diversified livelihood portfolio. Section 1 considers RNFE definitional and measurement issues. In section 2, the paper provides an overview of the relevance of rural non-farm economy (RNFE) and the key concepts underlying it and livelihood diversification. Section 3 explores the RNFE and local economic growth followed by discussions on the potential for growth of the RNFE, the linkages between the farm and non-farm sectors. Section 4 provides a brief discussion of policy processes

Best practice and strategies for promoting rural non-farm employment through project interventions (NRI report no. 2756)

This paper draws attention to best practices and strategies for projects and programmes aimed at promoting rural non-farm employment in developing and transitional economies. It is based on a number of case studies and regional workshops commissioned by the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) and the World Bank, under their Collaborative Programme on Rural Development. While the focus is on project interventions, linkages with public investment programmes and policies are also explored. The paper is structured as follows. Section I summarises and develops the main findings from the RIMISP study and the San José workshop. Based on the presentations and discussions at country and regional workshops, section II discusses the relevance of the best practices and strategies identified in Latin America for other developing regions and transition economies and Section III identifies knowledge gaps and future research avenues. Finally, section IV summarises the main conclusions

Constraints and potential to the development of rural non-farm activities in Armenia (Main report)

The report provides a coherent set of strategy measures and action programme for the diversification of activities in the rural areas of Armenia. The main findings of this report will complement the Government of Armenia’s (GoA) agriculture development strategy delineating the main lines of an action plan for the promotion of activity diversification in rural areas. It is expected that the reports will indicate priorities for the design of technical assistance projects dealing with the diversification of activities and rural development. The report is organised as follows. The first section provides background information on the RNFE in Armenia. The second section summarises recent agricultural sector and macroeconomic developments in Armenia as they relate to the RNFE. The third section describes the sampled communities socio-economic structure, agricultural sector and natural resource base. Section 4 outlines our regional/community level analysis of the pattern of non-farm rural employment and income generating activities (IGAs) diversification in a transition economy context. Section 5 of the report is based on our social survey and focus group activities which analyse the main determinants of participation in the non-farm economy. The findings from section 5 are then discussed and elaborated upon in Section 6 of the report where data are presented on the activities of “successful” rural non-farm diversifiers – non-farm enterprises – which is presented in the context of the rural economies of the surveyed marzes/ regions (Ararat, Gegharkounik and Syunik). Finally, the main findings of the report are placed in a national context and RNFE policy proposals and suggestions on strategic planning are advanced

Accessibility in the Time of Limited Resources

In the spirit of this year’s theme of “opening access,” our panel highlights how library faculty are making technology more accessible for the CUNY community. Despite the rising costs of journal prices and the stagnation of library budgets, librarians have employed low-cost and free techniques to improve access to library services. The panelists’ projects provide helpful examples of CUNY librarians’ work to increase access for our communities through technology