ABSTRACT
This chapter summarises the findings which are of interest to policy-makers, development analysts and students of rural development. It examines how politicians and planners have, since the 1950s, responded to the challenges presented in tackling rural underdevelopment problems. The chapter explores how the rural people have responded to government policies and its huge bureaucracy, and to the challenge of escaping the risk of poverty and economic insecurity. It discusses the dilemmas facing policy-makers in finding satisfactory solutions to short- and long-term rural-agricultural development problems, particularly those generated by the 1980s' economic reforms. In the 1990s, rural-agricultural development indicators will be significantly influenced by the extent of the shift from direct, extensive government intervention to market-determined changes, with a minimal role of the State in income transfer. Several political and developmental dilemmas emerge from the abrupt swing. One can draw a parallel between these dilemmas and the dramatic shift in international development thinking and in the analytic reasoning behind policy choice.
