This essay encompasses three different cases. In Case 1, we outline the various rural development strategies and assess the impact of any developing nation favoring rural development policies over urban biased policies. Then, In Case 2, we list possible urban-biased polices that governments of poorer nations give preferentially to over Its rural counterparts. Finally. We use Taiwan, a former least developing country, to illustrate how the implementation of both rural development strategies and urban-biased policies can, together, lead to the successful advancement of poorer countries.
This should help us to better understand the direction that government policies need to progress towards. Case 1: Rural Development Strategies and the Effects of Giving Rural Development Strategies Preference over urban-Bladed Polices Ghana is undoubted one of the poorest and underdeveloped African countries. With their agricultural sector dominated by weak linkages to industry, this sector is also characterized by a low level of technology and productivity, and a low level of income. The main focus of agriculture development according to the National Development of
Planning Commission; was accelerating economic growth. This, being projected to be achieved by directing policy measures towards addressing loss of biodiversity, promoting sustainable extraction and use of mineral resources, Integration of water resource management as well as advanced education and health facilities.. The critical role of infrastructure in propelling economic growth and sustainable poverty reduction has become crucial as Ghana aspires to become a middle-income country.
This priority should be given to expansion of economic infrastructure to ensure that services are reliable, affordable and efficient. Female-headed households, female members of rural households and the marginal’s member of rural communities tend to be more limited as compared to men in rural areas. The government should integrate women into the economic mainstream and ensure that women benefit directly for development programmer. Also, policies should make provision for services offering child care and family planning to working mothers.
This should help to lighten the burden of women’s’ reproductive roles and permit them a greater used to develop urban areas; leaving remote rural areas neglected despite economic potential. As a result, South Africa was left divided into developed and wealthy urban areas, and underdeveloped and poor rural areas.. When Jacob Zamia started his post, he created the Department of Rural Development to deal specifically with the task of bridging the wide gap between urban and rural development. In a 2006, Zulu-Natal spatial development report, Anodal was named as one of the 50 most deprived regions in the province.
Such initiatives surely lead to less people leaving rural areas in search of better opportunities in urban areas, however, over the past few weeks, south Africa has witnessed the President’s former village, Anodal, getting a Rearm upgrade of roads linking Anodal to Shoes and the village of Swampland to Cranston. There has also been almost RI 2. Mm allocated to a yet- to-be-built one-stop development centre near Anodal and another one nearby to provide everything from home affairs offices to clinics for local residents.
Yes, tourists coming to South Africa want to see presidential homesteads such as Anodal and it is wise to invest and develop these areas. In fact, this is excellent news for rural development, but surely Anodal does not need such an exorbitant amount of funding. What about other needier villages? One such example is that of Slumber- another rural village in Zulu-Natal- where school children have to cross crocodile infested rivers everyday Just to get to school . Why has South Africa not seen any funding in these poorer and needier rural areas?
Clearly, where rural development strategies are favored over urban development policies, it is easy for nepotism and bias to ensue. Another important impact regarding rural development strategies preferred over urban-biased policies relates to highly skilled workers in poorly developed countries, realizing that there is no opportunity for individual advancement and hence, choosing to migrate to international countries where they will achieve more secure employment. Ironically, South Africa needs these skilled professionals to help them on their path to development.
Alas, the only result of a preferred rural development policy is an unwelcome brain-drain. Case 2: Urban- Biased Policies and the Effects of Giving Urban-Biased Policies Preference over Rural Development Strategies Over the years, many developing countries have concentrated public resources in the urban sector, thus widening the income gap between them . This has consequently, through increased rural-urban migration, led to the overall increase in urban population growth rates. This had unquestionably placed extreme pressures on land, housing, transportation, water supply, sewerage and other health and education facility shortages.
This meant increased low income slums associated with an aggravated urban unemployment problem which arises due to the excess of laborers over Jobs available. Also prevalent is the environmental consequence of highly concentrated urban area such as pollution leading to poor air quality. Government policies and public investment priorities that favor urban areas are widespread in the developing world, mainly because many countries see development as synonymous with rapid industrialization.
Some urban- biased policies employed involve an overvalued exchange rate, high investment in human resources in urban areas rather than rural areas, interest laws that make it impossible to obtain small, risky loans that are typical in rural areas. Urban bias has flow to urban areas when basic health services in rural areas are more pressing. The transformation of China’s economy over the past 30 years is the most spectacular growth story in history. However, China has also seen the world’s biggest and fastest rise in inequality with an income distribution more skewed than America’s.
As people left rural agriculture for more productive and urban city Jobs, inequality has risen with prosperity. Moreover, inequality could be higher because wealthy people often understate their income to hide it from the taxman. Another relevant problem prominent in capitalist India involves the close relation between politicians and tycoons. Many of Indian’s politicians already have business empires of one kind or the other. So, we have established that urban-biased policies cause imbalances in urban-rural employment opportunities, but it also shows that urban Job creation is an insufficient solution for the urban unemployment problem.
From the two cases above, and extensive analysis, it can be found that in the case of China, agricultural growth has contributed to poverty reduction in both rural and urban areas however; the effect on rural areas is much larger. Similarly, for India, results show that rural growth helps to reduce poverty but has no significant effect on urban poverty reduction Case 3: Employing both Rural and Urban Policies Simultaneously From the ass’s, the world has witnessed the transition of an impoverished Taiwan to an economically stable country.
Many of the citizens in Taiwan had no access to food, water, proper sanitation or health and education facilities. Today, through hard work from the people of Taiwan and commitment from the government; the country prides itself as one of the fastest growing economies. To achieve this new investment- attractive economy, Taiwan has concentrated on 2 sectors: agriculture and industrial growth. The light industries mostly concentrate on production of everyday goods whilst the heavy industries focus on production of exports and long-term products that are beneficial to the economy.
By progressing from light to heavy industries, revenues increased through exports and technological advancement. Not only did this transformation encourage innovation and originality in production, but also created opportunities for investment to the rest of the world by starting globalization and liberation’s of the economy. This provided incentive for foreign investors to increase their input into the economy and hence increase foreign revenue. Included n Development plans were construction projects and a 6-year national development plan that incorporated the advancement of seas ports, roads and railways.
Together with its diligent workforce and an improved Taiwanese infrastructure resulted in an empowered SEEM sector enabling Taiwan to further catapult their economy to the global front. By establishing an environment for growth in their economy, Taiwan emphasized on information concerning economic growth to investors venturing into the country and this helped to increase the technological and investment information required for economic growth. The government also initiated a strategy in which better performing companies and businesses were rewarded for increased returns in the initial stages of economic growth.
This enabled new companies to feel honored through these incentives and hence aim for economic excellence. Taiwan had been concentrating on agriculture to supplement its GAP. There were restrictions that limited foreign exchange revenues from the exports of agricultural economy by placing controls to protect workers in industries. During their metamorphosis to an advanced economy, Taiwan encountered a few other obstacles and had to deal with them accordingly. As industries developed, employment opportunities in rural areas dwindled. So, government established export and industrial processing zones to take up this excess labor.
This led to the increase of foreign investment to exploit cheap and available labor. When the energy crisis hit the world, the government concentrated on infrastructure, partially averting the heavy chemical industry-development. Furthermore, the government took the initiative to regulating laws governing trade by lowering import tariffs and lifting trade restrictions. Also, the controls on interest rates loosened while foreign exchange rate transformed from a floating exchange rate to a fixed exchange rate thereby uplifting the economy.
As we have seen earlier, politics can cost a country’s economy. Taiwan formulated a legislative form of government from its initial totalitarianism that had been adopted to maintain stability, social ethics, law and order. Evidently, the success of Taiwan was strongly influenced by domestic stability, harmony, education for all, hard work and government commitment. Conclusion Unquestionably, the general consensus warns against treating rural an urban areas as distinct entities. Instead, policymakers should acknowledge that rural and urban households are interconnected..
