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This panel invites contributions on new ways of thinking about rural development, and the opportunities and challenges entailed in realizing sustainable rural transformation. Case studies of rural development initiatives are particularly welcome.
Long Abstract:
There are two dominant logics animating existing models of rural development. The first agro-industrial logic approaches rural places as sites of intensive food production for urban consumption. A second post-industrial logic sees rural places as sites for the extension of urban markets, services, and goods. Development efforts following the first logic focus on increasing the productive efficiency of farmers, whereas those following the second encourage the scaled urbanization of rural places. By focusing narrowly on increasing economic output and/or heightened consumption, both approaches tend to hasten the disintegration of traditional rural livelihoods and ways of life in ways that tend to stimulate rural out-migration.
There is, however, an emerging third way of conceptualizing rural development that does not subsume rural spaces to urban processes and priorities. To date, development initiatives that employ this third logic, which is often expressed through terms such as 'rural reconstruction' and 'rural transformation,' focus mainly on cultivating shorter food supply chains over large-scale industrialized models. Although alternative food systems are an important factor to consider, it is becoming increasingly clear that attention must also be given to other dimensions of rural transformation, including the nature of education, rural livelihood diversification, governance and decision-making, the sociocultural and spiritual dynamics of rural communities, and the participation of rural communities in development processes. This panel invites contributions on new ways of thinking about rural development, and the opportunities and challenges entailed in realizing sustainable rural transformation. Contributions may be theoretical or empirical; case studies of rural development initiatives are particularly encouraged.
The paper presents the story of an educational institution focusing on rural development in India through agroecology related courses. The story depicts the role of educational innovations to motivate youth across urban-rural divide to effectively engage in the rural economy.
Paper long abstract:
The economic relation between urban and rural areas is widely documented in the literature on sustainable rural development. Lesser attention is paid to how economic relations transform knowledge systems and aspirations. This paper focuses on the aspirations of the rural youth in the context of economic and ecological decay in India. While some farmers and organizations in India have been able to leverage the opportunities emerging from urban affluence for enhancing rural livelihoods, these have had limited success in attracting local youth. Creating an enabling ecosystem for a flourishing rural economy requires motivated and skilled youth to engage with the local context, instead of seeking precarious livelihood options in urban spaces. Gandhi's formulation of rural education encapsulated a socio-ecological consciousness relevant for agroecological practices. He advocated for an experiential learning system for socially relevant, practical education. The paper tries to explore, 1) Can these ideas build capacity of rural youth to participate in agroecological practices in India? 2) What are the opportunities or challenges for sustaining them? To answer these questions, the paper uses the case of Lokbharti Gramvidyapeeth. They have operationalized the Gandhian notions of rural education to design a vocational course on organic farming and created an alternative imagination of knowledge-centric urban-rural linkages by motivating rural youth to engage with opportunities in the rural economy.
I would like to address the theme of the workshop on rethinking rural development through a study of a large-scale initiative for rural transformation in the South Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, which is focused on agroecology and has implications for agricultural education systems more widely.
Paper long abstract:
The crisis in agriculture in India has prompted a search for new directions for agricultural policy as well as concomitant new forms of agricultural and extension education. In this process, Andhra Pradesh Community-managed Natural Farming (APCNF) has emerged as one of the largest state-supported agroecology programs in the world. The knowledge-intensive nature of agroecology and the vision of rural transformation towards which it strives towards necessitate the development of forms of agricultural education that diverge from conventional extension and lay emphasis on a dialogue among different forms of knowledge. This essay will examine agricultural education and extension processes in APCNF, comparing them with Peasant-to-Peasant (PtP) educational processes in the agroecology movement in Latin America. While APCNF incorporates elements of participatory PtP processes, possibilities exist for it to deepen its engagement with such processes, thereby enhancing the potential of APCNF to contribute to a wider transformation of rural life.
The paper weighs opportunities and challenges of Rwanda's integrated rural development model and takes the case study of Karama to question whether the rural model villages can support sustainable rural development while coping with the shifting socioeconomic targets of the country's Vision 2050.
Paper long abstract:
Rwanda rural model villages or 'imidugudu' have been a central part of the government's Integrated Development Programme (IDP) and the Economic Development Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS) policy targets. Since 2010 over 60 IDP model villages have been built in the four provinces and Kigali, her capital city, following 11 strategic pillars ranging from land productivity, infrastructure development, and social protection among others.
The roll out of the programme is normally led by the local governments who resettle vulnerable households in multifamily and collective housing typologies to maximise the use of land and improve hygiene, sanitation, widening access to health and educational services. However, lack of sufficient financial resources, absence of public transit and resident's weak sense of ownership have led to poor maintenance of the housing stock, malfunctioning of the urban infrastructure and shortage of job opportunities.
Kigali remains 70% rural and this motivated in 2019 the relocation of 240 households from high-risk zones to the Karama IDP model village which offers a unique opportunity to explore some of the contradictions between rural and urban development. Taking Karama as case study and based on post-occupancy appraisal through direct participant observation, interviews with residents, and documents review, the findings expose the tension between the overarching national policy objectives, and their local application. The paper concludes discussing some of the challenges the model villages programme faces to support a sustainable process of urbanisation and rural development in line with the recent Rwanda's VISION 2050 strategy goals.
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Short Abstract:
This panel invites contributions on new ways of thinking about rural development, and the opportunities and challenges entailed in realizing sustainable rural transformation. Case studies of rural development initiatives are particularly welcome.
Long Abstract:
There are two dominant logics animating existing models of rural development. The first agro-industrial logic approaches rural places as sites of intensive food production for urban consumption. A second post-industrial logic sees rural places as sites for the extension of urban markets, services, and goods. Development efforts following the first logic focus on increasing the productive efficiency of farmers, whereas those following the second encourage the scaled urbanization of rural places. By focusing narrowly on increasing economic output and/or heightened consumption, both approaches tend to hasten the disintegration of traditional rural livelihoods and ways of life in ways that tend to stimulate rural out-migration.
There is, however, an emerging third way of conceptualizing rural development that does not subsume rural spaces to urban processes and priorities. To date, development initiatives that employ this third logic, which is often expressed through terms such as 'rural reconstruction' and 'rural transformation,' focus mainly on cultivating shorter food supply chains over large-scale industrialized models. Although alternative food systems are an important factor to consider, it is becoming increasingly clear that attention must also be given to other dimensions of rural transformation, including the nature of education, rural livelihood diversification, governance and decision-making, the sociocultural and spiritual dynamics of rural communities, and the participation of rural communities in development processes. This panel invites contributions on new ways of thinking about rural development, and the opportunities and challenges entailed in realizing sustainable rural transformation. Contributions may be theoretical or empirical; case studies of rural development initiatives are particularly encouraged.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Friday 8 July, 2022, -Arnab Chakraborty (CIMMYT-India)
Caroline Fazli (University of Bath)
Luca Brunelli (Glasgow School of Art) Josephine Malonza (University of Rwanda)