Rural poverty
Rural povertyBy Editor
Thursday July 03, 2008 [04:00]
Today, one does not need to travel very far to notice that there is a serious imbalance between urban and rural areas. Rural poverty is so vivid that the millennium target on poverty cannot be met unless the world addresses this poverty. It should worry all of us that instead of reducing, rural poverty seems to be on the rise.
According to the Africa Review Report on Agriculture and Rural Development, about 70 per cent of Africans and roughly 80 per cent of the continent’s poor live in rural areas and depend, mainly, on agriculture for their livelihood. The report also says about 70 per cent of the African population living on less than US$1 a day are located in rural areas, establishing poverty as a rural phenomenon in the region. This majority is generally unable to meet basic necesities such as food and other needs due to the continuous poor performance of the agriculture sector.
As Miniva Chibuye from the Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection (JCTR) observes, there is need to make rural development a priority through high level investment.
Chibuye also says that the basic problem in Africa is not lack of resources, but rather misplaced priorities.
“In many countries, resources are spent on political missions and not on infrastructure or job creation. There seems to be a high level of self interest and lack of political will to invest in sectors relevant to eradicating poverty.”
She further urges the church to raise its voice louder on the distributive injustice between rural and urban populations in member countries.
“For a long time now, there has been lopsided development favouring the urban population, leading to ill-prepared rural-urban migration. The precondition, therefore, is to invest in human capital. Most rural areas have been neglected in terms of quality service provision as well as capital investments in the form of infrastructure such as irrigation facilities and roads.”
One does not even need to go on a generalised approach on this matter. A clear example is that of the situation in this country. How else can we explain the fact that rural poverty has increased from 78 per cent to 80 per cent despite the fact that we have been recording some economic growth? This shows us that the economic growth that is taking place in the country is only active in the urban areas while the rural population continues to wallow in extreme poverty.
For it to be called economic development, there is need for the progress to be enjoyed by the entire population of the country, unlike the current situation where there is an accumulation of wealth in the hands of a few urban dwellers.
There is need for this country and indeed African governments to assign higher priority to rural and agricultural development and this must be reflected in both policy and investment.
There is need to allocate a bigger chunk of national budgets towards fighting rural poverty. During election periods, most politicians have tried to portray themselves as caring by committing themselves to improving the lives of the rural population.
The people in the rural areas have even believed these politicians. In the last elections, our politicians in government did very well in the rural areas because of such promises. But it’s now clear that they have not lived up to their promises. The promises have not been fulfilled.
It is high time our politicians put an agenda (not lip service) to include rural population development in our economic activities to reduce their poverty. Let us remove the barriers that block the rural population from effectively participating in the country’s economy. For instance, we may urge people in the rural areas to participate in agriculture to an extent where they invest all their resources. But when the crops are ready for harvest, there is no ready market.
And when that market is made available, the farmers are swindled or the buyers do not pay them. And when they are paid it is too late for them to prepare their fields. To put it simply, the urban market is hostile to the rural populace to an extent where the efforts of the rural farmers are rendered useless. The issue of rural poverty is a thing that should make all of us ashamed and call for an end to it.
There is need for all of us to realise that for Zambia to be a better country, the poverty imbalance should be eliminated. We should not allow some of our citizens to die because of poverty.
Labels: POVERTY
posted by MrK @ 3:15 AM
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