An approach to targeting the rural poor for agricultural development in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

In spite of several decades of development planning and agricultural research by National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS) and institutions of the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), there has so far been no breakthrough in agricultural development in sub-Saharan Africa. Different explanations might be given for this state of affairs. However, according to one study, among the basic explanations is the fact that" ... there is an inadequate understanding of small farmers' goals and resource limitations". (Jahnke, H. E. et al., 1986:105) As a result, research objectives, and we might add development objectives in general, tended to be very different from those of the clientele. The necessity to better understand the developmental and technological requirements especially of the rural poor in sub-Saharan Africa can hardly be overemphasized. This, however, poses a difficult task .. It may not be evident to many people that poverty is a socio-economic phenomenon which is difficult to explain and much more so to measure. It is a phenomenon which may be understood differently in different societies. In Ethiopia, for example, the Amharic term which is commonly used to refer to the poor is yenie bitie or "my type". This may imply one of two things. It may imply a desire on the part of the society to save a person the embarrassment of being referred to as deha or poor. It may also suggest that poverty is so widespread in Ethiopia that few feel that their condition is any different from most people. No doubt, different conceptions of and attitudes toward poverty are manifested in other societies. In sub-Saharan Africa, most of the population regarded as poor ate those which reside in the rural areas. Various designations have been employed to refer to the rural poor which comprise most of the rural producers. They have been referred to as resource-poor farmers, peasants, subsistence producers, small producers, etc. Such terms are likely to mean different things to different people. The term resource-poor farmer, for example, which has received currency in recent years, may be ascribed a broad or a restricted definition. Broadly, the term may denote the absence of adequate amounts of the basic productive factors such as land, labor, and farm implements. Narrowly, it could mean the lack of cash for the purchase of such production inputs as fertilizer or "improved" seed varieties.....