Women Farmers, Rural Poverty, and Other Reports

Every week, RuralReporters.com collate reports on development issues in rural Africa and its environs.

This report includes some of our top picks from recent must-read research, interviews, blogs, and in-depth articles, carefully selected to help you keep up with global issues.

Here are some of the updates you may have missed from the previous week:

 

UN adopts first ever resolution to tackle rural poverty

The United Nations General Assembly has adopted its first ever resolution to tackle poverty eradication in rural areas of developing countries on Thursday.

The resolution underlined the importance of promoting socioeconomic development in rural areas as an effective strategy for the eradication of poverty, including measures to improve infrastructure, inclusive financial facilities, employment, education, social welfare system and minimize digital gap, among others.

This also underlines the significance of a concerted effort to achieve Agenda 2030 goals.

Lack of farm labour affecting rural women farmers

The lack of farm labour, both mechanised and manual, has been identified by rural women farmers as a great hinder to their productivity. Members of women farmer groups, at the 2018 Hohoe Municipal Farmers’ Day celebrations at Akpafu -Adorkor, expressed worry over farm workload, which they said had risen sharply against available labour.

A member of Boeyawor, a farming group from Lolobi Ashambi suggested that the National Youth Employment Module be extended to support farmers.  Another group member said land tenure had also become expensive and affected efforts at expanding farms.

Mr Teddy Ofori, Hohoe Municipal Chief Executive, identified youth involvement in agriculture as key to its growth.

Why extreme poverty still haunts rural Africa

New data suggests that by 2030, nearly nine out of 10 of the world’s people living in extreme poverty will be sub-Saharan Africans. Despite the images of urban slums that usually accompany stories of poverty, the vast majority of these people will be rural dwellers. We know the last frontiers of extreme poverty are “fragile states,” those with weak institutions and histories of conflict.

No country exemplifies this challenge better than the West African Republic of Mali. The country was once a development darling with a seemingly stable democracy and a growing economy. But Mali’s progress came to a halt in 2012 when a rebellion in the north of the country led to a coup. Mali’s instability has since metastasized into a shifting set of insurgencies and local conflicts that make development difficult.

Ninety percent of poor Malians live in rural areas. Yet policymakers’ geographical understanding of rural Mali is rudimentary at best. Despite a growing appreciation for the spatial dynamics of poverty, we still tend to think of rural dwellers as inhabiting villages that can be represented as fixed points on a map.

Funds planned for rural electricity in Africa should be better spent on water delivery

In sub-Saharan Africa, two out of three people lack access to electricity, but 40% do not have clean drinking water and 70% lack adequate sanitation.

The burden of waterborne childhood diseases is greatOne in nine children under age five dies every year in sub-Saharan Africa. Diarrhea from dirty drinking water is the second major cause of death, after malaria.

Water and sanitation provisions might save or improve many more lives for the same cost as either grid or solar electricity.

 

 

 

Busayo Sotunde is a prolific writer with special focus on Business, Entrepreneurship, Reproductive Health and other development issues in Africa. Her articles have been published by different outlets including Investing Port and Ventures-Africa.com. She has a penchant for reading and sustainable development. Follow Busayo on Twitter @BusayomiSotunde
No Comment

Subscribe to our mailing list