Rural economic development and cultural change
Rural Economic Development and Cultural Change Will Lead to People Liberation. Rural definition of development is important and necessary because it carries the hopes of many people in the world. Africa is no exception as large number of people live in the rural settings. The rural people have the task of feeding the whole population both of the rural and the urban, thus if the rural is developed then all people will be developed, their living standards raised and liberated too.
Studies have revealed and affirmed that 96 percent of all poor people in many African countries live in the rural areas, and these people rely on agriculture for their livelihoods. The World Bank report shows that African countries have several million poor people whereby the majority of these people live in the rural areas. Thus, if industrialisation and, consequently, poverty reduction are to take place in Africa, then rural development through agricultural revolution is inevitable. Rural development can be attained through the following interventions:
Economic Development and Cultural Change
1. Improve the agriculture technology currently being used in the agriculture sector in the rural areas, and diversify the quantity of cultivated crops, empower the extension officers through training, and empower them with working tools so that they reach farmers to disseminate the needed technology.
2. Strengthen farmers’ cooperative unions and establish them where they do not exist; let the farmers’ cooperative unions be empowered and speak for farmers’ rights. When cooperative unions are well strengthened they will influence increased productivity.
3. Establish agro-processing industries that will guarantee reliable markets to farmers’ crops and also provide employment opportunities in non-farming activities.
4. Improve necessary infrastructure such as road networks, telecommunication (mobile phones) and electricity which will ensure rapid and reliable transportation of agricultural products and exports from agro-processing industries and increase accessibility to other services timely. To develop the rural areas and its population calls for improvement in education which will have impact in the labour force too.
Economic Development and Cultural Change; findings observed in Mandalu (2016), have revealed that the population with post-secondary education in Tanzania is minimal when compared to other countries in the development category (Tanzania Human Development Report, 2014). Moreover, findings in the same study have highlighted that the quality of education in the country is poor and thus failing to impart competitive and innovative knowledge and skills to students who are the future labour force. Furthermore, findings revealed that investors had difficulties in finding personnel with competitive skills needed in investors’ enterprises. To change the situation and contribute to the country’s industrialisation and, subsequently, poverty reduction, the following interventions are essential and necessary:
i. Attract talented students to the education sector and train them to become the best teachers so as to produce brilliant students, and future skilled labour force and job creators. The trained students will be enabled to discover their talents, and thus will be creative, innovative and consequently, in all productive sectors in the country, there will be needed qualified personnel.
ii. Improve the ability and teaching morale of current teachers and future ones by giving them relevant training and providing them with modern teaching tools. Improve their living standards such as the quality of their salaries, houses, health services and provide them with reliable transport where applicable.
iii. Improve and build more vocational training colleges and provide mechanisms to change students’ mind set and influence more to take science and technical studies. The polytechnic schools will facilitate and ensure creation of innovators and, in the long run, will enable embracing of new technology in all economic sectors of agriculture, industry and construction.
When these pragmatic actions are taken either literary or in another similar form then we strongly believe that the country’s economy will change. The real change will come through Economic Development and Cultural Change
