ABSTRACT
Small towns should be defined in terms of their function as urban centres which serve a rural hinterland and at the same time constitute a link between the rural area and higher levels of the urban hierarchy. Small towns are also places where larger rural non-agricultural activities meet decentralized urban functions. It is true that increases in agricultural productivity in general have been small in African countries and that prices have often been low, either because world market prices have been low or because agriculture has been taxed through low producer prices. In most African countries, public administration and services have to a greater or lesser extent been decentralized after independence. The 1984 population census for Ethiopia found that slightly over 10 per cent of the Ethiopian population lived in 325 urban localities with 2,000 or more inhabitants. Kenya has experienced high urban growth since independence, especially during 1970s, when the urban population grew by 7.8 percent per annum.
