Rural Development

1. Introduction
Rural development is the process of improving the quality of life and economic well-being of
people living in rural areas where most of the people are rural poor and derive their living
from subsistence and fragmented forming.
The vast majority of the population in the rural areas are exposed to rampant diseases, are
vulnerable to natural disasters and generate their minimal income from unpredictable farming.
Most developing countries where a significant proportion of their population lives in the rural
areas strive to implement rural development programmers in a bid to extricate their people out
of absolute poverty.
It is believed that as the rural population constitutes the majority of the developing economies,
a gain in the development of the rural poor will contribute to the overall growth of a country.

2. Objectives
Rural development aims at improving rural peoples livelihoods in an equitable and
sustainable manner, through better access to assets, services and control over productive
capital that enable them to improve their livelihoods on a sustainable and equitable basis.
Rural Development Programmers have been alleviation of poverty and unemployment through
creation of basic social and economic infrastructure, provision of training to rural unemployed
youth and providing employment to marginal formers.

3. Rural Development Experience

Ethiopian economy has been predominantly agrarian, where agriculture provides employment
for more than 85 percent of the population and is the chief source of national wealth land.
During the Imperials regime the land system of the country was immensely complex and growth
was at the slow pace which was a concern to then government. To reverse the situation the
government of Ethiopia embarked upon a three five year development plans from 1957 1973.

The first two development plans gave much emphasis to the development of infrastructure and
paid less emphasis to the sect oral development.
However the 2nd five year plan envisaged a 2.4% growth in agriculture. But at the end of the plan
a 2.4% growth in agriculture. But it was only 2.1%.
The third five year development plan exhibited a marked departure from the previous ones. It
recognizes the importance of the agricultural sector, and charted out a clear and well articulated
agricultural development strategy.
Agriculture policy in the third five year plan is primarily designed to deal with two great
problems in the sector, mainly the problems of the peasantry and the problem of production.
Different projects in the plans resulted in the high eviction of tenants, land become very
expensive and the cost of the projected was very high given limited skilled manpower and capital
that Ethiopia has, There fore it was decided to launch a scheme which was considered to be less
costly per farmer and large in coverage and a department was formed by the name called
Extension Project Implementation Department. This project was also found coasty.
Project launched did not meet the intended because polices were influenced by donors, there was
spatial bias, women have been neglected.
In 1974 Revolution brought about the historic land reform proclamation of 1975 removed what
had been considered as major constraints to rural development.
During the Derg regime peasant organizations were established as a means of mobilizing the
energies of the rural toilers. A ten year perspective plan was put in place which was over
ambitious as it calls for a 4.3% annual growth rate in agriculture.
In a move to further implement strategies that could enhance rural development villagization
polices were put in place. The motives were to use national resources effulgently and
villagizations were considered as a remedy of traditional farming.
State farms were part of the ten year perspective plan but were overwhelmed by problems such
as:- lack of commitment and high corruption, lack of skilled man power and mismanagement and
misuse of scarce resources.

The Current Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Per sued the agriculture centered rural
development program me which is expected to assist in the realization of the countrys economic
development objective. The program me is intended to use defiantly the limited capital resources
and more extensive application of labor and land resources.
The current government give more emphasis to rural development as poverty is greatest in rural
areas and the majority of the poor are found there. The rural and agriculture-centered
development strategy is to increase agricultural production rapidly and on a sustainable basis
since some 85 percent of the population are engaged in agricultural production, the income of the
vast majority of the population will increase. The strategy will also widen the domestic market as
it broadens the purchasing power of the majority.
The following are strategies of rural development:1. Labor intensive strategy:- this is using the cheap labor in the rural area by educating
and training the agricultural labor force.
2. Proper utilization of Agricultural land:- This is made by identifying what land should
be used for what type of activity and utilizing land accordingly.
3. Taking different Agro-Ecological Zones into Account:- This is to identify the
development opportunities existing in the various agro-ecological zones.

Conclusion
Rural Development is well justified and appropriate as it focuses on the rural population. Rural
Development is more appropriate in developing countries as the majority of their population
vesicles in rural areas. More intervention is needed in rural areas since poverty is highly surfaced
in the area countries have been implementing different strategies that could bring the rural poor
out of poverty.
During the Imperial era efforts hare been exerted to modernize the living of the rural population
but as the main productive force, the land was privately owned, it remained difficult to
implement strategies. On the other hand during the Derg regime it was with out the interest of the
peasants that peasant associations and Villagizations were established.
The current government strategy aspires to modernize the rural areas and there are achievements
that can be felt. Infrastructures like, electricity, telephone and roads are to mention.
Lastly we can conclude that the emancipation of the rural poor from poverty needs a long
journey to go and a lot remains to accomplish the job.

Reference
1. Desalegen Rahamato:_- Article from the internet
2. Rural Development in Ethiopia :- Article in the internet
3. Rural Development:- Encyclopedia, internet