ABSTRACT

To the extent that governments and NGOs have tried to improve the situation of the rural poor, we see a wide range of different strategies that have been implemented since the mid-twentieth century (see Table 1). Whereas for decades the policy goals were agricultural growth and regional development (e.g. the ‘green revolution’, land reform, agricultural colonization and integrated rural development), the focus is now on sustainable development and poverty alleviation (or, more explicitly, achieving the Millennium Development Goals, or MDGs). In spite of this long history of policy interventions rural livelihoods generally have not improved. Rural livelihoods are increasingly under stress, and today the rural poor are often described as ‘chronically poor’. Increasing numbers see migration as the quickest way to move out of poverty.