1st Edition
Farewell to Farms De-Agrarianisation and Employment in Africa
First published in 1997, this volume asks whether Africa’s future is necessarily rooted in peasant agriculture. The title of this book, Farewell to Farms, 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 a reliance on agriculture. ‘De-agrarianisation’ 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 continent-wide case study evidence, the authors assess the impact of de-agrarianisation on household welfare, business performance and national development. Their findings, which reveal new economic trajectories and social patterns emerging from a period of accelerated change, call into question assumptions about Africa’s future place in the world division of labour.
Part 1. Introduction. 1. De-agrarianisation in Sub-Saharan Africa: Acknowledging the Inevitable. Deborah Fahy Bryceson. Part 2. Horn of Africa. 2. Coping with Famine and Poverty: The Dynamics of Non-Agricultural Rural Employment in Darfur, Sudan. Hamid el Bashir Ibrahim. 3. Farmers without Land: The Return of Landlessness to Rural Ethiopia. Yohannes Habtu. Part 3. West Africa. 4. Not by Framing Alone: The Role of Non-Farm Incomes in Rural Hausaland. Kae Meagher and Abdul Raufu Mustapha. 5. Winners and Losers: Household Fortunes in the Urban Peripheries of Northern Nigeria. Mohammed A. Iliya and Ken Swindell. 6. Economic Activities of the Poor in Accra. Meine Pieter van Dijk. Part 4. East Africa. 7. Urban Trajectories in Rural Livelihood Strategies: Household Employment Patterns in Kenya’s Coast Province. Dick Foeken. 8. The Rural Informal Sector in Tanzania. Mboya S.D. Bagachwa. Part 5. Southern Africa. 9. Non-Farm Activities and Gender in Zimbabwe. Rudo B. Gaidzanwa. 10. Rural Diversification in Zimbabwe. Poul Ove Pedersen. 11. Of Livestock and Deadstock: Entrepreneurship and Tradition on the South African Highveld. Leslie Bank. Part 6. Continental Policy Issues. 12. Rural Industries in Africa: Hope and Hype. Ian Livingstone. 13. Labour Diversification in Rural Africa: Implications for Public Works Programmes. Tesfaye Teklu. Part 7. Conclusion. 14. De-agrarianisation: Blessing or Blight? Deborah Fahy Bryceson.
Biography
Deborah Fahy Bryceson, Vali Jamal
