Contrary to conventional wisdom that equates rural economies with agriculture, rural residents in developing countries often rely heavily on activities other than farming for their income. Indeed, nonfarm work accounts for between one-third and one-half of rural incomes in the developing world. In recent years, accelerating globalization, increasing competition from large businesses, expanding urban markets for rural goods and services, and greater availability of information and communication technology have combined to expose rural nonfarm businesses to new opportunities as well as new risks. By examining these rapid changes in the rural nonfarm economy, international experts explore how the rural nonfarm economy can contribute to overall economic growth in developing countries and how the poor can participate in this rapidly evolving segment of the economy. The authors review an array of recent studies of the rural nonfarm economy in order to summarize existing empirical evidence, explore policy implications, and identify future research priorities. They examine the varied scale, structure, and composition of the rural nonfarm economy, as well as its relationship with agricultural and urban enterprises. And they address key questions about the role of public intervention in the rural nonfarm economy and how the rural poor can participate in and navigate the rapid transition underway in rural areas. The contributors offer new insights to specialists in rural development and to others interested in overall economic development. This book is the product of a joint study by the International Food Policy Research Institute and The World Bank. Contributors: Raisuddin Ahmed, Christopher B. Barrett, Julio Berdegué, Paul A. Dorosh, Steven Haggblade, Peter B. R. Hazell, Eric Hyman, Peter Lanjouw, Carl Liedholm, Donald C. Mead, Richard L. Meyer, Anit Mukherjee, Keijiro Otsuka, Thomas Reardon, Mitch Renkow, Kostas Stamoulis, and Xiaobo Zhang.

Contrary to conventional wisdom that equates rural economies with agriculture, rural residents in developing countries often rely heavily on activities other than farming for their income. Indeed, nonfarm work accounts for between one-third and one-half of rural incomes in the developing world. In recent years, accelerating globalization, increasing competition from large businesses, expanding urban markets for rural goods and services, and greater availability of information and communication technology have combined to expose rural nonfarm businesses to new opportunities as well as new risks. By examining these rapid changes in the rural nonfarm economy, international experts explore how the rural nonfarm economy can contribute to overall economic growth in developing countries and how the poor can participate in this rapidly evolving segment of the economy. The authors review an array of recent studies of the rural nonfarm economy in order to summarize existing empirical evidence, explore policy implications, and identify future research priorities. They examine the varied scale, structure, and composition of the rural nonfarm economy, as well as its relationship with agricultural and urban enterprises. And they address key questions about the role of public intervention in the rural nonfarm economy and how the rural poor can participate in and navigate the rapid transition underway in rural areas. The contributors offer new insights to specialists in rural development and to others interested in overall economic development.

"Rural residents across the developing world earn a large share of their income--35-50 percent--from nonfarm activities. Agricultural households count on nonfarm earnings to diversify risk, moderate seasonal income swings, and finance agricultural input purchases, whereas landless and near-landless households everywhere depend heavily on nonfarm income for their survival. Over time, the rural nonfarm economy has grown rapidly, contributing significantly to both employment and rural income growth. Long neglected by policymakers, the rural nonfarm economy has attracted considerable attention in recent years. In poor agrarian countries struggling with growing numbers of marginal farmers and lackluster agricultural performance, such as those in much of Africa, policymakers view the rural nonfarm economy as a potential alternative to agriculture for stimulating rural income growth. In countries whose economies are successfully shifting from agriculture to other sectors, policymakers see the rural nonfarm economy as a sector that can productively absorb the many agricultural workers and small farmers being squeezed out of agriculture by increasingly commercialized and capitalintensive modes of farming. Given frequently low capital requirements in the nonfarm economy, policymakers in both settings view the rural nonfarm economy as offering a potential pathway out of poverty for many of their rural poor. Expectations everywhere are high. How realistic are these expectations? Can the rural nonfarm economy indeed grow rapidly enough to productively absorb a growing rural labor force? And in doing so, can it, in fact, provide a pathway out of poverty for the rural poor? A recent book published for IFPRI by Johns Hopkins University Press and Oxford University Press in India, Transforming the Rural Nonfarm Economy: Opportunities and Threats in the Developing World, marshals empirical evidence from around the globe to explore these key policy questions. The book, edited by Steven Haggblade, Peter B. R. Hazell, and Thomas Reardon, examines key factors affecting growth and equity in the rural nonfarm economy in order to identify settings and policies that favor rural nonfarm growth and enable the poor to participate in growing segments of the evolving rural nonfarm economy." -- from text.

Based on new evidence from in-depth field surveys, this book addresses the unique situation of countries that remain deeply engaged in agriculture, and proposes a set of policy orientations which could facilitate the process of rural change.

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Jane Adams focuses on the transformation of rural life in Union County, Illinois, as she explores the ways in which American farming has been experienced and understood in the twentieth century. Reconstructing the histories of seven farms, she places the

Over the past three decades the rural Asian economy has experienced a dramatic transformation. In most countries the speed and level of development have far exceeded expectations. This book describes this "quiet revolution" with an emphasis on policies and strategies and their impact on agricultural and economic growth, poverty, and the environment.