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Rural Development

Categories: Agriculture Economic Growth

About this sample

Words: 730 |

Published: Sep 20, 2018

Words: 730 | Pages: 2 | 4 min read

Introduction

Works cited.

Odurukwe, S., Matthews-Njoku, E., & Ejioku-Okereke, N. (2006). Agricultural production and poverty in Nigeria. Journal of Rural Economics and Development, 15(1), 32-45.
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). (1995). Agricultural development and food security in Africa. Retrieved from http://www.fao.org/3/v8330e/v8330e00.htm
International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). (1993). Rural poverty report. Rome: IFAD.
United Nations Development Program (UNDP). (n.d.). Gender and agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa. Retrieved from http://www.africa.undp.org/content/rba/en/home/library/women-economic-empowerment/gender-and-agriculture-in-sub-saharan-africa.html
Damisa, M., & Yohanna, M. (2007). Gender roles in agricultural production: A case study of women farmers in rural Nigeria. Journal of Gender and Rural Development, 2(1), 32-42.
Abdullahi, R. (n.d.). Rural women and agricultural development in Nigeria. Retrieved from https://www.intechopen.com/chapters/11527
Afolabi, M. (2008). Women's contribution to food production in rural Nigeria. Journal of Agricultural Extension, 12(1), 50-60.
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). (1995). Women in agriculture: Closing the gender gap for development. Retrieved from http://www.fao.org/3/v9776e/v9776e00.htm
Ampaire, E. L., & Kansiime, M. K. (2016). Factors influencing women's participation in agricultural production and decision-making in Uganda. Gender, Technology and Development, 20(3), 207-227.
Mba, S. (2010). The role of women in agricultural production: A case study of rural women in Southeast Nigeria. Journal of Sustainable Development, 3(4), 246-252.

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Rural Community Development and its Potentials Essay (Critical Writing)

The essence of a community.

When almost the entire world is harking about the advances of technology and globalization, rural development has since been put in the backseat in the efforts to uphold a concept called modernization. However, it is not difficult to realize that without rural development, the sustainability of globalization and modernization will not become what is expected because food security and environmental management is rooted upon rural development. Thus, rural development must go hand in hand with all other types of development for globalization to achieve its full potential. In this case, the article “In Search of the Community in the Changing Countryside” authored by Kenneth Wilkinson (1996) is right in saying that rural community development must be espoused so that rural and urban communities can be integrated to be able suffice the needs of everyone and achieve “ecological stability in the larger society”.

Although Wilkinson’s article is rather old, it has many salient points that expounded the importance of community development in rural America. In fact, it is a speech the author delivered as a presidential address at the 48th Annual Meeting of the Rural Sociological Society in Blacksburg, Virginia. The article discussed how communities in the countryside should face economic hardships and severe alienation by involving themselves into communities that can guide them to enhance development within their midst. Although technological changes have been going on around them, Wilkinson (1986) insisted that there are resilient strategies that countryside communities can take in order to encourage rural community development. In this paper, we will delve into the details of Wilkinson’s article and try to weigh down his perspectives about rural community development. In analysis, it is expected that we can apply the concepts Wilkinson stated in our contemporary times as we will attempt to upgrade the strategies instilled by this landmark paper.

Before Wilkinson (1986) sparked his discussion about rural community development, he first suggested to clear out the concept of a community. Although there are “several hundred definitions of community now in print”, Wilkinson (1986) warned that “a new definition” is his intention to achieve but he wanted to spell out “two approaches to defining this concept”. By “taking one of the approaches”, Wilkinson (1986) will explain “the elements of a measurable form of community in a modern society”.

In the first approach, Wilkinson cited Nisbet (1967) who defined community by equating “it with the integrative element of social interaction, wherever the interaction occurs” Wilkinson (1986) explained that “social bonds might be called community” because it can be “found between nations, between persons who share an interest but are scattered over a nation or city, between residents of a ‘bedroom’ suburb, or between the residents of a more or less complete local society”. In this case, when we mention the word community, it essentially “ignores the original territorial meaning of this term and directs the search for community into a broad area that would be more properly called ‘sociology’ than ‘sociology of community’.” In comparing it to the second approach, Wilkinson (1986) stated that the difference is upheld only by the article “the” when combined with “community”. In this case, he said that the “study of the community entails a search for community in a particular kind of territorial and social environment”. After defining the concept, Wilkinson (1986) proceeded into discussing the three elements of a community, in which these elements are the criteria that can measure the “extent of presence or development of community in a population. These elements are:

Community is a local ecology – Wilkinson (1986) explained that this is the original defining factor in conceptualizing a community. In fact, this topic is “the oldest and best-developed body of theoretical literature on the community”, wherein “a local ecology designates the community as a collective organization through which residents of a small territory meet their daily needs”.
Community has social structures – To become a community, it must contain social structures. As an organization of social life, a community must contain “sufficient structures such as groups, firms, agencies, and facilities to meet all of the daily needs and to express all the major categories of the common interests of people”. In short, “the community is a holistic or global structure, unlike a prison, monastery, or neighborhood where one or more common social institutions would be absent”. Wilkinson (1986) explained that “one could meet all daily needs in a community, although one need not actually do so for this criterion to be met”.
The community consists of a field of community actions – In order for a community to thrive immensely for its people, Wilkinson (1986) reasoned out that “collective efforts” are needed to be undertaken “to solve local problems” and showcase “collective expressions of local identity and solidarity”.

Upon combining the three elements, Wilkinson (1986) expressed that the search for a community can be achieved. As “the phenomenon indicated by convergence of these three elements-a local ecology, a holistic organization, and a field of community actions-is the object of the search for the community” because “the community is the smallest form of society and the most comprehensive social unit one can experience firsthand”. As explained by “Durkheim’s concept of “truly collective activity”, Mead’s concept of the “generalized other” and the broad idea of community as a social bond, Wilkinson (1986) gathered that “the relations between people who actually live together and work together on local problems are of special sociological importance”. In addition to “the qualities of primacy and immediacy”, Wilkinson (1986) suggested that a “community has instrumental and intrinsic values”, where the “extent to which community is present or developed in a local population can influence the level of achievement of common goals by that population, although this instrumental value has been more widely proclaimed in the literature than it has ‘been demonstrated empirically’”.

Wilkinson (1986) lamented that the intrinsic values of most communities are “hidden or suppressed”. For example, “local ecology has little focus or structure”, “major institutions and services are missing” or “public affairs are disrupted by turbulence, conflict, and self-seeking behaviors”. When in this situation, the full potential of the community is stunted down and the needs of the people will not be served out completely. He also mentioned about the critics saying that a community “no longer exists or will no longer exist when the urbanization of the world is complete”. Another response observed is that the “community has been replaced by smaller structures rather than by larger structures”. Lastly, a response Wilkinson faced is the comment that delineated a community “having three essential elements persists despite the importance of larger and smaller structures in social life and this phenomenon continues to influence social well-being” and most communities do not “act”.

While all these comments have valid arguments, Wilkinson (1986) declared that all communities are different and can “act but only under special conditions”. He mentioned particularly that “community action occurs when unusual events threaten local residents” and. “when that occurs, an identity of interest can produce a more or less unified process of collective action among people who seem otherwise to have few if any common interests”. While there is more studies needed to counteract some criticisms about the elements of communities, Wilkinson (1986) deemed that what is important to focus on is the “potential for community to develop and the implications of such a potential become even more apparent when the search for the community takes us into the changing countryside”.

Changes in the Countryside and Rural Development

Wilkinson (1986) shared that the “relative advantage of a rural setting for development of community” is that most of the things are “being equal, are more or less self-evident”. He expounded that “fewer people and fewer groups generally have fewer problems of communication, coordination, and integration”, as the population increases there are more difficulties that needed to be faced but it is not impossible to achieve the emergence of a community in the local society. However, there are serious constraints that may appear during the emergence of a community. Wilkinson (1986) mentioned that “the first requirement for community is that the local ecology be able to serve the daily needs of its residents”, but as studies in human ecology and geography have shown, this ability adaptive capacity, tends to increase with urbanization, at least up to some threshold”. Thus, “rurality limits community development ecologically by restricting the ability of the local population to meet its daily needs within the local territory”. This phenomenon can partially be explained “by the terms ‘dependency’ and ‘distance” because when “a population that is too small to provide essential services itself, for example, must rely on larger centers, and distance from larger centers limits access to the needed resources”. This can be seen in the reality that most rural communities are underdeveloped than their urban counterparts because of their utter dependency and the complacence of not tapping its full potentials for development.

Wilkinson (1986) also explained that blaming the encroachment of urban society into rural society is not viable, when arguing about the immediacy and dependency issue. He explained that “this encroachment argument has two flaws”:

It assumes that rural and urban sectors of society constitute different societies or at least different forms of society. Thus, it ignores the integration of the fate of the rural with that of the urban.
The anomie it predicts during periods of rapid rural growth is poorly documented. For example, crime is found not to increase with boom growth in small towns, although the fear of crime is found to increase, implying perhaps that some residents of boom towns have embraced myths of boomtown disruption promulgated by journalists and other observers.

Although it is convincing that there are big problems that arise during transition when rural communities transform to become urban centers, available studies have not proven that this is mainly the culprit of all serious rural problems. In this case, Wilkinson (1986) suggested that what rural communities need is to be “more urban and less isolated from resources and institutions of our essentially urban society”. In this case, the answer should be rural community development.

Wilkinson (1986) suggested strategies on how communities in the countryside can undertake rural community development:

A strategy of rural community development should have a structural focus to complement the social psychological or individual-level focus of many development programs.
Although community development is a local action process, efforts to encourage that process in rural areas should address issues in a larger context than a strictly local one.
The key objective of rural community development should be to remove the constraints to community associated with rurality while building upon the potential for community development also associated with rurality.

With these strategies, rural communities will be able to “set the stage for delineating challenges to rural sociology associated with promoting rural community development”. Wilkinson (1986) thought that “the effective strategy of rural community development must address structural factors because the problems of dependency and distance are mainly structural”. Communities should also focus on their competitive advantages and their rural community development agenda should not undermine the “growth in jobs, income services, and other resources, and such growth typically means urbanization”. Emery et al. (2004) agreed to the fact that communities should focus in enhancing economic potentials “community economic development programs continually assert attracting industry as the most effective strategy for job creation”. Because when there are no jobs, it “increases community dependency on forces outside the locale”. In the future, rural communities need not to become a “big city”, but it should not also isolate itself within the advantages of modernization. Thus, “combining the advantages of the rural and the urban, one can outline an ideal rural-urban model of local social organization”. Lastly, equality should always be espoused because community development is “an interactional phenomenon” that “obviously requires frequent, open contact among those who share a local society”.

Wilkinson’s article shared a lot of points that needed to be explored on. Especially during this age of globalization, rural communities should not fear to embrace the advantages of these modernization going on within their midst. In fact, they can co-exist with it and instill the values of what rural community development is all about. Rural communities should not remain as backward villages that are seemingly forgotten by society, rather they can be proactive contributors to modern society as they enjoy the benefits of development like their urban counterparts. For example, Brooks (2007) emphasized that rural community development is essential in the modern age because it is essential in enhancing the social capital of any state because “community growth and prosperity requires recognition of the active partnership role that government must adopt in the process”. Also, improvements in education can help in this quest for rural community development and collective actions are needed to combat dependency, distance, and inequality that serve as barriers to achieve the full potentials of community development.

Brooks, K. (2007). Social Capital: Analysing the Effect of a Political Perspective on the Perceived Role of Government in Community Prosperity. Rural Society 17(3): 231-248.
Emery, Mary, Wall, M. & Macke, D. (2004). From Theory to Action: Energizing Entrepreneurship (E2), Strategies to Aid Distressed Communities Grow their Own. Journal of the Community Development Society , 35(1): 82.
Wilkinson, K.P. (1986) In Search of the Community in the Changing Countryside. Rural Sociology 51(1): 1-17.
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Essay on Development of Rural Areas

Students are often asked to write an essay on Development of Rural Areas in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Development of Rural Areas

Introduction.

Rural areas are essential parts of a country’s landscape, often home to agriculture, forestry, and traditional industries. However, they can lack development compared to urban areas.

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is vital for a balanced and inclusive growth. It improves living standards and reduces poverty. It also ensures food security by boosting agriculture.

Ways to Develop Rural Areas

Rural areas can be developed through education, healthcare facilities, infrastructure, and technology. Providing quality education and healthcare can improve the quality of life.

In conclusion, rural development is crucial for a country’s overall progress. It brings prosperity and reduces inequalities.

250 Words Essay on Development of Rural Areas

Rural development signifies the actions and initiatives taken to improve the standard of living in non-urban neighborhoods, remote villages, and the countryside. It is pivotal for the balanced and inclusive growth of a nation.

The Need for Rural Development

Rural areas, home to a significant portion of the world’s population, often lag in terms of infrastructure, healthcare, education, and economic opportunities. This urban-rural divide can lead to social inequity, economic disparity, and political instability. Hence, rural development is a pressing necessity.

Strategies for Rural Development

The development of rural areas should be multi-dimensional, encompassing various sectors. Firstly, infrastructure development is crucial. This includes building roads, providing electricity, and improving water supply. Secondly, the agricultural sector should be modernized and diversified to increase productivity and income.

Education and Healthcare

Education and healthcare are two pillars for the development of any society. Rural areas often lack quality educational institutions and healthcare facilities. Investment in these sectors can lead to a healthier and more educated rural populace, thus fostering development.

Economic Opportunities

Creating economic opportunities is another significant aspect of rural development. This can be achieved through promoting small-scale industries, agro-based enterprises, and providing vocational training to the rural workforce.

In conclusion, rural development is a complex, multifaceted process that requires a comprehensive and integrated approach. It is not just about economic growth, but also about enhancing the quality of life for rural inhabitants. Therefore, it is essential for the inclusive and balanced growth of a country.

500 Words Essay on Development of Rural Areas

Rural development is a critical component of comprehensive and inclusive growth of a nation. It involves enhancing the quality of life and economic well-being of people residing in rural areas. Despite the rapid urbanization, a significant portion of the global population still resides in rural regions, making their development an area of prime importance.

Rural areas often lag behind urban centers in terms of infrastructure, healthcare, education, and economic opportunities. This disparity can lead to a host of issues, including poverty, migration, and social unrest. Therefore, rural development is necessary to ensure balanced growth, social equity, and stability.

Key Aspects of Rural Development

Rural development is a holistic process and involves multiple dimensions. It is not solely about economic progress but also encompasses social, cultural, and environmental aspects.

Economic Development

Economic development in rural areas primarily involves the promotion of agriculture and allied activities. It includes modernizing farming techniques, promoting agro-based industries, and ensuring fair prices for agricultural produce. Additionally, diversifying the rural economy through the promotion of non-farm activities like handicrafts, tourism, and services sector can provide alternate income sources and reduce dependence on agriculture.

Social Development

Social development aims at improving the quality of life in rural areas. It involves enhancing education and healthcare facilities, providing clean drinking water and sanitation, and ensuring access to electricity and good quality housing. Empowering women and marginalized sections of society is also a crucial aspect of social development.

Environmental Sustainability

Rural development should also focus on environmental sustainability. It involves promoting sustainable farming practices, conservation of natural resources, and use of renewable energy sources. This not only protects the environment but also ensures the long-term viability of rural economies.

Challenges in Rural Development

Rural development faces several challenges including inadequate infrastructure, lack of quality education and healthcare, and limited access to credit and markets. Additionally, social issues like caste-based discrimination, gender inequality, and lack of awareness about government schemes often hinder rural development.

Rural development is a complex and multidimensional process. It requires coordinated efforts from the government, non-governmental organizations, and the rural community. While significant progress has been made in several areas, much work remains to be done. The aim should be to create self-reliant and sustainable rural communities that can contribute effectively to the overall growth and prosperity of the nation.

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Essay on Agriculture and Rural Development in English for Children and Students

Table of Contents

Today, urbanization has made people from rural areas to shift to cities and towns, for better opportunities and facilities. This trend isn’t specific to a particular region of the globe, but is witnessed almost in every country. Despite this huge population shift from rural to urban centers, agriculture has remained a significant source of income and livelihood for one-third of the world population. Agriculture, at the grass root level functions as a family run business, by the farmers. Nearly 70-80% of total world’s poor people rely on agriculture for livelihood, including the farmers. Hence, the role that agriculture plays in Rural Development is significant.

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Long and Short Essay on Agriculture and Rural Development in English

We have given below Short and Long Essay on Agriculture and Rural Development in English under varying word lengths.

After reading these short and long agriculture and rural development essay, you will know what role does agriculture plays in rural development, the world statistics on agriculture; facts and figures around the world; what role does agriculture plays in economy; importance/significance of agriculture; components of rural development; Indian statistics on agriculture and rural development; steps taken by the government of India for rural development etc.

These Agriculture and Rural Development essays are especially beneficial for the students of senior secondary level and help them in essay writing, debate or other competitions.

Agriculture and Rural Development Essay – 1 (200 Words)

Nearly 45% of the total world population resides in villages, that is roughly 339 Crores. By and large, nearly 60% of the global population depends on agriculture and allied businesses. Villages primarily are agriculture based economies, not only in developing but also in developed nations around the world.

Development in rural areas, up to a large extent depends on Agriculture, as it constitutes the prime source of livelihood and food for farmers and other villagers. But, the statement also hold true, the other way round, that is agricultural in a village also depends hugely on the infrastructure developments and scientific advancements in farming.

That is, better roads, 24/7 dedicated electricity supply for farms, irrigation canals, introduction of modern farming technologies are some of the areas of rural development which in turn will mutually benefit the agriculture industry.

Agriculture and Rural Development are directly proportional to each other and a development in any one will consequently lead to the improvement of other. On the other hand a poor state of any one of them will adversely affect the other.

Agricultural economy of a village will suffer in absence of good roads and electricity, hence, stalling the overall economical as well as social development of a village.

Agriculture and Rural Development Essay – 2 (300 Words)

Introduction

Agriculture plays a significant role in rural development by way of employment creation, food production and livelihood. Almost 60% of world’s population i.e. 450 Crores (roughly) depends directly on agriculture and its allied sectors for their living. Agriculture plays a significant role in rural development by making the villages self sustainable. With better agriculture yield and growth prospects in a village, development is evidently the next natural thing to happen.

World Statistics of Agriculture

Agriculture is an industry which has the potential to end poverty and misery around the world. A little more than half of the world’s population i.e. 450 Crores depends on agriculture for livelihood. Studies reveal that agriculture is the prime source of income for 65% of the world’s poor adult population. Also, agriculture contributes to 6.4% of world’s total economic production, which roughly sums up to $5,084,800 million.

On the contrary, despite such huge potential of agriculture in improving economy and eliminating poverty, rural population in most parts of the world faces slow social and economic development. The farmers, who provide food for almost the entire world population has very low or no access to modern amenities as in urban centers. They considerably lag behind in education, health and other sectors.

Nearly 80% of population in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa that also supports the livelihood of 2.5 billion people, face economic and social marginalization.

Agriculture and Rural Development are two different aspects, yet they are also co-related. While agriculture hugely contributes in sustaining rural economy and strengthening its social structure, reducing poverty etc; rural development on the other hand, includes the developments in agriculture sector as well as other sectors like, health, education, roads, industrialization and others. Agriculture sector is obviously benefited by infrastructure development, because of better accessibility to markets and urban trade centers.

Agriculture and Rural Development Essay – 3 (400 Words)

Agriculture sector has a huge potential for transforming rural economy by making it, self sustainable. Growth in agriculture produces consequently leads to economical development and poverty eradication. It makes the village economy self sustainable; however, the overall development of a rural area depends on wide number of factors other than agriculture. The two however are closely co-related in some aspects as we will know in the following essay.

Facts and Figures

Approximately 45% of World’s population lives in rural areas, that is in terms of numbers 3.4 billion people. Also, nearly 2 billion people have agriculture as their primary source of income. Agriculture sector also employs nearly 866 million people across the globe. Out of which, approx 75% (656 million) are in south-East Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Around 80% of world food is produced by over 500 million farms run by a family.

Agriculture and Rural Economy

Agriculture is an integral part of many world economies, especially the developing ones, and hence plays a significant role in rural development. It helps the villages to be self reliant by creating new job opportunities, eradicating poverty and improving rural society.

Economic development of a rural area primarily depends on the state of agriculture in that particular area. A decline in agriculture produce will adversely affect the economy. However, over dependency of rural areas on agriculture and allied sectors for employment generation is also a challenge for rural economy.

Though, agriculture is self reliable, it is also vulnerable to natural calamities like drought, flood, storms and pollution. A year of unexpected less rain or drought could put the whole village economy on back foot in terms of economy.

The challenge is therefore to make rural economy more independent of agriculture, by introducing sectors like fish farming, honey bee farming etc.

Agriculture plays a great role in overall development of rural areas; though, it is not the only factor on which rural development depends. Overall rural development includes development in agriculture along with other sectors, like development in education, health facilities, transportation, basic amenities like water and electricity, proper infrastructure etc. There is no doubt that the development in terms of infrastructure, water and electricity will support agriculture sector and hence the village economy.

Agriculture and Rural Development Essay – 4 (500 Words)

Agriculture sector around the world is a major player in sustaining rural economy and development. It is the largest employer in rural areas and hugely contributes in its overall development. Nearly 80% of world population depends on agriculture for its livelihood by supplying food to the rest of the world. Rural development and agriculture are also co-related in more than one way, as we will find out in the following essay.

Significance of Agriculture

The contribution of agriculture in improving rural economy is immense. It sustains village economy by generating food, employment and other related means of livelihood. Agriculture sector is the huge employment provider in rural areas. It provides employment to daily wage labours as well as skilled work force in fields as well as other agriculture related activities.

Agriculture sector is also a mass producer of food, necessary for sustaining human nutritional needs. With low yield or declining agricultural activities, signs of hunger and malnutrition start showing up within no time.

Components of Rural Development

Social, economic and overall development of a rural area depends on a wide number of factors like agriculture, better planning, employment generation etc. We will discuss in brief some of the chief components of rural development below-

1) Employment Generation

Employment Creation is the main component of rural development. Though, in rural areas, agriculture sector is the largest employer. Therefore, to generate employment opportunities in villages, there is a need to strengthen agriculture sector and also setup other industries.

2) Better Planning

Better planning must be done by the government, to boost up local economy of a village by employing development model conducive to its growth. A village economy largely depends on agriculture and hence any positive changes made in the latter will automatically improve the state of former.

3) Better Roads

Better road connectivity is a major sign of rural development which also improves the agriculture sector. Better roads and connectivity to urban trade centers mean that the farm produces reach the market early and fetch good price, hence, aiding in agricultural economy as well.

4) Modern Techniques

Introducing modern techniques in agriculture and allied industries will automatically improve the overall development of villages. Using genetically modified seeds and organic fertilizers for better yield will consequently lead to overall development of rural areas.

5) Basic Amenities

Availability of basic amenities like water and electricity is also a major component of rural development. It also improves crop yield by ensuring that the field never run dry even when the natural rain is scarce. Similarly, continuous electricity supply is also beneficial for agriculture.

Agriculture and Rural Development are the backbones of the economy of a nation. This becomes more befitting in case of developing and underdeveloped economies of the world. In an agrarian economy, the more better the state of agriculture is the better will be the development around rural areas. On the other hand, rural development in terms of infrastructure and other sectors creates an environment conducive to the growth of agriculture sector.

Agriculture and Rural Development Long Essay – 5 (600 Words)

India is primarily an agriculture based economy and a large portion of its population still resides in villages. Therefore, for developing rural India, it is imperative to develop the agriculture sector by introducing new reforms and policies. In the following essay we will go through the state of agriculture and rural development in India, discussing prospects of their improvement.

Agriculture Statistics – India

Nearly 75% of India’s total population (133 Crores) depends primarily on agriculture sector for its livelihood, which roughly sums up to approximately 100.4 Crores people. Agriculture sector in India contributes around 16% of the total GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of India. It is only in third place preceded by service sector and industrial sector at first and third place respectively. Indian economy is the fastest growing economy of the world and is expected to consistently improve.

Role of Agriculture in Economy

Agriculture sector is one of the primary sectors of the Indian economy. Though, the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) contribution of agriculture has consistently declined in past six to seven decades, it still employs nearly 53% of Indian population.

Agriculture also plays a significant role in making the village economy self sustainable and independent. Rural India is still far away from industrialization and the prime source of employment for rural people is the agriculture sector.

Agriculture sector therefore is the main player in Indian economy as it sustains not only farmers but also other small businesses and vendors those rely on it. Agricultural produces are transported to markets, in turn providing employment in transport sector.

While the products breach markets, small vegetable vendors, shop keepers purchase the products for direct selling, thereby generating tremendous employment opportunities. Needless to say that agriculture sector employs skilled and unskilled labours at all levels and in all allied sectors.

Initiatives for Rural Development

1) Five Year Plan

Beginning in 1951, the Government of India has been framing and implementing five year plan, after every five year, to improve the overall development of the country, primarily in the rural areas. Under the five year plan dams had been built, irrigation canals constructed, agricultural reforms introduced etc.

2) Increased Budgetary Allocations for Agriculture

Government has in the subsequent years increased spending on agriculture and related sectors in a bid to make them independent and self reliant. The money is spent on improving agriculture sector right from the production stage to marketing stage.

3) Road Connectivity

Good roads are the most significant symbols of rural development and also the most important one. They not only reduce the distance between villages and cities but also boost up the agricultural industry by providing fast and easy transportation.

4) Giving Agricultural Credit

Giving agricultural loans at reasonable rates to small and poor farmers will also aid in rural development. When a poor farmer is given credit to purchase fertilizers, farm equipments etc, it will consequently improve village economy and development.

5) Rural Job Guarantee Schemes

Rural job guarantee schemes like MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) which guarantees job on daily basis to rural population do a commendable job in improving the village economy. It provides job not only in agriculture sector but also in other fields such as road and building construction etc.

Indian economy is largely dependent on agriculture, while the latter depends on rural development. It is also true that economic and social development of Indian villages is primarily dependent on agriculture sector. Therefore, it wouldn’t be wrong to see agriculture and rural developments as two sides of one coin, where one depends on or is affected by changes in other.

Related Information:

Essay on Agriculture

Essay on City Life Vs Village Life

Speech on Agriculture

Essay on Organic Farming