ABSTRACT
One important finding that emerges from the empirical material presented in this book is that the existence and dynamism of rural labour markets – in particular the extent of agricultural wage labour – is largely under-estimated in official statistics and large-scale ‘representative’ surveys. The 2013 World Bank
World Development Report (WDR), Jobs, maintains that in agrarian economies wage employment is not the prevalent form of work, and only affects a small minority (World Bank 2012). The WDR posits that in these countries making smallholder farming viable and improving smallholder productivity matter because of high poverty rates and the reported predominance of own-account farming among the rural poor. The policy remedies include spurring agricultural growth through increases in agricultural productivity, supported by public sector investment. The role of the (rural) labour market through the stimulation of the demand for (wage) labour as a potential avenue for escaping poverty is not discussed in the report. Citing Mozambique as a case in point the WDR maintains that (World Bank 2012, 191): ‘About 95 percent of agricultural workers work on small plots, the use of modern technology is low, and access to extension services is minimal.’ Another picture of rural poverty emerges from accounts that rely on detailed research on rural labour markets supported by micro-evidence. In this volume, Cramer et al. argue that in Mozambique:
labour markets have become central to the lives and prospects of significant numbers of [the] poor. . . . Wage labour is not only associated with large plantations, agri-businesses or kulak farmers, but is also widespread among small-and medium-scale farmers, though these tend to offer much lower wages and worse working conditions than larger employers.
