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Alert! Special Research Document On Ghana's Rural Development Strategy

By Collins Adoma Asante
Special Report Alert! Special Research Document On Ghana's Rural Development Strategy
JUL 15, 2015 LISTEN

CHAPTER ONE
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
1.1 Introduction
Rural Areas cover a greater portion of the country’s land area and well as function as home for majority of Ghanaians. It is also these areas that face seemingly intractable socio-economic challenges. Some of our farming and forestry businesses still need to build their competitiveness in both local and international front. More generally, average income per head is lower in rural regions than in our towns and cities, while the skills base is narrow and the service sector is less developed.

Efforts made to develop the Rural Areas in Ghana Ghana’s effort towards rural development dates back to 1943 when the idea to establish the Department of Social Welfare and Community Development was first considered. With the creation of the Department of Social Welfare and Housing in 1946, most of its effort was concentrated on the construction of community centers, social clubs and youth centers as the basis of welfare work. The main strategy for rural development at that time was the community development approach. Under this approach the major target was to help the rural folk grow in civic responsibilities and in use of their potentialities and talents in achieving desirable economic and socio-cultural goals. The main objective was to stimulate the local populace to undertake self-help projects to improve their living standard.

Ghana being a developing economy can obviously have a great demand for resources especially financial resource which is limited. And this for that matter explains why our satisfaction level to some project and policies are low.

In this assignment, review of emerging rural development strategies and their implications for Ghana’s development, taking into consideration both past and presently implemented strategies as well as emerging ones with its challenges and implications.

1.2 Objectives
This assignment is aimed at the following;
To enhance students ability to review literature and draw valid inferences

To enhance students’ identify challenges of rural development strategy implementation in Ghana and some African countries.

To improve students awareness on the emerging strategies of rural development across the globe with emphasis on Africa and their implication for Ghana’s rural development efforts.

1.3 Scope
The scope of the assignment is;
Reviewing and presentation of the characteristics of rural communities and the concept of rural development.

An assessment of rural development strategies in developing countries with particular reference to Ghana.

Challenges in the implementation of these rural development strategies in Ghana and other countries.

Implications and conclusions of these rural development strategies for rural planning and resource development in Ghana.

1.4 Methodology
This assignment began when an when an introductory lecture was given. Varoius publications on rural development was consulted for futher discussion

Information on theemerging rural development strategies were searched on the internet,newspapers, textbooks, among others.

Finally, the dataobtained were collated and analyesed and used in the preparation of a technicalreport.

1.5 Expected Output
The assignment requires students to produce a technical report on rural development strategies of various government regimes since independence and emerging rural development strategies as well as implications and conclusions for rural planning and resource development.

CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW AND PRESENTATION OF THE CHARACTERISICS OF RURALCOMMUNITIES

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2.1 Introduction
This chapter talks about the definitions of some relevant terms in this assignment, the characteristics of rural communities and the concept of rural development.

2.2 Definition of Terms
2.2.1 Rural development
It implies a process of increasing productivity and improving standards of living in rural areas.

2.2.2 A community
A communityis agroup of people bounded by a geographical links, such as a village, settlement or district, and also includes those brought together by lifestyle, religion, hobby, interest, among others.

2.2.3 Development
The United Nations Development Programme uses a more detailed definition- according to them development is 'to lead long and healthy lives, to be knowledgeable, to have access to the resources needed for a decent standard of living and to be able to participate in the life of the community.'

2.2.4 Policy
Policy is typically described as a principle or rule to guide decisions and achieve rational outcome(s) or any course of action followed primarily because it is expedient

2.2.5 Strategy
Strategy is the direction and scope of an institution over the long-term: which achieves advantage for the institution through its configuration of resources within a challenging environment.

2.3 Characteristics of Rural Communities

In Ghana, a rural area is an area with population of less than 5000 people. Most rural societies are relatively 'integrated', in the sense that the various components of life (eg. agricultural and non-agricultural, 'economic', 'social' end 'political', religious and secular) are closely interrelated. Rural people do not easily recognize the distinctions which planners, extension workers and other government officials make between, for example, the responsibilities of different agencies or 'economic' and 'social' planning, because in their own lives all these things affect each other. This is why an integrated approach to planning is essential at this level and why projects or programmes which are planned from only one point of view (eg. the 'agricultural' or the 'economic') frequently fail because they do not take account of other related aspects.

Also, most people in rural areas are dependent directly or indirectly on the natural resources of the area for their livelihood. Most rural planners, and especially agricultural planners, recognize this, and thus emphasize the importance of agricultural development activities production.

2.4 Concept of rural development
Rural development implies a process of increasing productivity and improving standards of living in rural areas.

However, the rural development approaches employed by the various successive governments serves as evidence for the country’s persisting effort to develop its rural areas. A critical analysis of the rural development approaches employed in the country reveals that, limited financial, manpower and organizational resources made the dream of the country’s attainment of rural development unachievable.

The International Fund for Agriculture Development estimates that about 51 per cent of the poor people in Ghana live in rural areas and that poor rural people have limited access to basic social services, safe water, all-year roads, electricity and telephone services. It is against this backdrop that development interventions in the rural areas are very urgent and crucial.

It goes without saying that the country would make no headway if the rural setting is neglected. Improve the quality of life in rural areas and encouraging diversification of the rural economy: Development in the rural areas means that the standard of living of the populace will increase. Also, there is the likelihood that activities in the area will divert from Primary to Secondary and tertiary. Improve the environment: The country’s rural areas have a great deal to offer. It gives us essential raw materials alright but as side that its value as a place of beauty, rest and recreation – when we look after it – is self-evident. That is rural areas when taken care of can continuously serve as the country’s lungs, and for that matter a battleground for the fight against climate change. Safeguards for the rural sector: Since agriculture is the major activity of the rural area a development there means there would be the presence of development of plans, veterinary infrastructure and skilled staff to build capacity for early detection and control of and response to livestock and crop diseases. Of particular concern are those livestock diseases that can be transmitted from animals to humans. And aside from that there would be food security in the country.

CHAPTER THREE
ASSESMENT OF PAST RURAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES

IN GHANA
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3.1 Introduction
This chapter seeks to explore the various strategies put in place to help develop rural areas. It also looks at strategies and polices put in place in areas such as infrastructural development, Agricultural development, environmental sustainability, local economic development and integrated approaches to rural development.

3.2 Agricultural Development
Previous governments throughout the past years initiated policies to help improve the agricultural system in the country especially in the rural areas.

Agricultural in Ghana has moved from the crude man- power methods to semi-mechanization, hence the various institutions responsible for developing the agricultural sector has to improve the mechanical aspect of their activities in order to increase productivity.

The following are some of the adopted strategies used by the various institutions responsible for the formulation and implementation of agricultural development policies.

2.3.1 Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP)

The program takes a fresh perspective on the role of agriculture for development in the light of global food crisis. It is aimed at addressing two main questions, which are;

Ø What are the impacts of Green revolution type agricultural growth to reach the CAADP goal in Ghana?

Ø What is the sector’s contribution to the overall economy?

Results from the dynamic computable general equilibrium model suggest that by closing the existing yield gaps in crop production and supporting essential growth in the livestock sector Ghana can achieve CAADP’s six percent (6%) growth target. In this process, agriculture supports the rest of the economy through substantial and largely invisible monetary transfers to the non-agriculture sectors which are primarily driven by the reduction of domestic food prices.

Thus, CAADP growth benefits both the rural and urban households, and reduces the poverty by more than half within ten (10) years. However, widening regional disparities between the North and the rest of Ghana will increasingly pose a challenge for the development. Additional measures more targeted towards generating growth in the lagging North will be necessary to bridge the income gap and reach Ghana’s poorest of the poor.

Source: Ghana Shared Growth Development Agenda (2010-2013)

2.3.2 Accelerated Agricultural Modernization
This is one major thematic area under the current national development strategy which is the Ghana Shared Growth and Development Agenda (GSGDA). Currently, Ghana’s agriculture is dominated by subsistence small holder production units with weak linkages to industry and the services sector. The agricultural sector is characterized by low productivity, low income and un-competitiveness in production, processing and distribution.

Given its central role in generating income and providing subsistence for majority of the people as well as its potential to lead the transformation of the economy, agriculture is expected to drive the new development agenda.

The main focus of agricultural development policy, over the medium-term, will be to accelerate the modernization of agriculture and ensure its linkage with industry through the application of science, technology and innovation. The modernized agriculture sector is expected to underpin the transformation of the economy through job creation, increased export earnings, food security, and supply of raw materials for value addition and rural development as well as significant reduction in the incidence of poverty. This will be complemented by an effective naturalresource management and environmental governance regime.

Source: Ghana Shared Growth Development Agenda (2010-2013)

3.3 Infrastructural development
The infrastructural development of the rural areas has not experienced much transformation but yet still efforts have been made by both past and successive governments to improve the situation.

The rural water supply programme IV (RWSP IV) was initiated in Ashanti Region to provide water facilities for the rural areas in the region. The program covered15 districts in the region and is providing boreholes fitted with hand pumps, household and institution latrines.

The World Bank introduced the village infrastructure project (VIP). The village infrastructure project was aimed at reducing poverty in the rural areas of Ghana through the transfer of technical and financial resources to improve basic village level infrastructure. Some of the components of the village infrastructure project included

Rural water infrastructure, support the provision of hand dug wells, boreholes, hand pumps as well as small reservoirs.

Rural transport infrastructure, support the provision of small access roads, village tracks and trails and small bridges.

Village post-harvest infrastructure, support threshing and drying floors and provide basic village storage

Institutional strengthen, support the strengthening of beneficiary communities in project implementation, management and for carrying out basic monitoring and evaluation

On education, the government outlined certain policies to help improve education in the country especially in the rural areas. The introduction of the capitation grant which aimed at providing free education for basic education gave a lot of rural dwellers the opportunity to be admitted with the school feeding programme as a complement.

3.4 Local Economic Development
Most of the raw materials produced by the country are mostly located at the rural areas. It is in this light that National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) was established to develop a national framework for developing the country.

Rural banking scheme introduced by the Supreme Military Council within 1970s aimed at helping the rural folks to get access to funds to promote the business.

Also, with the introduction of the President Special Initiative (PSI), most of the rural folks to expand their business thereby increasing their capital level. Employment also increased at the rural areas since most people went into gari processing, pito making, Shea butter processing etc. all were in a way to alleviate rural poverty.

Furthermore, the Rural Financial Services Project (RFSP) aimed at providing soft loans to rural folks to invest these funds in any profit oriented business so as to move these rural folks from earning one dollar a day to earning two dollars.

3.5 Integrated Approach To RuralDevelopment

Integrated approach to rural development talks about the combination of all the sectoral approach to the development of rural areas. Some of these approaches towards rural development include Agro-based industrial development, effective natural resource management and environmental governance, among others.

The National Redemption Council (1972-1979) had a policy for rural development. The government formulated in integrated rural development policy which was pursued under a five- year development plan. This approach to rural development is the contemporary approach adopted by most development government in reducing poverty in rural areas. One of the strategies of this approach is the Community- Based Rural Development project (CBRD) which is being adopted by several government including South Africa, Burkina Faso and Ghana. (IFAD, 2007and GTZ,2008).

Community Based Rural Development Project (CBRDP) was a strategy adopted for the development of rural areas in 2008 after the implementation of the Village Infrastructure Project (VIP). The policy was aimed at strengthen the capacity of rural communities to enhance their quality of life through the improvement of rural infrastructure, productive assets among others.

3.6 Environmental Sustainability
Most of the country’s natural resources are mostly located in the rural areas. This has led to the implementation of certain strategies to help sustain the environment.

Dr. Busia’s government implemented the tree planting strategy where fast growing species were provided for people to replant.

The government has embarked on a strategy to create awareness about environmental issues among all stakeholders and develop an effective and efficient framework for collaboration with appropriate agencies to ensure environmental compliance especially small scale mining industries in the rural areas. This strategy will help to control environmental degradation in the rural areas and help to sustain the environment for the future generation.

NGOs such as the Baptist Women’s Development Programme as well as the Suntaa-Nuntaa in the Upper West region of Ghana have been engaging in various agroforestry and wildlife strategies. They educate the people on the repercussions of bush fire and farming closely along river bodies, especially with chemicals. They have also taken upon themselves to motivate the local people and encourage them to replant the depleted environment.

CHAPTER FOUR
EMERGINGRURAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES IN GHANA
4.1 Introduction
Stemming from the above a lot of strategies are emerging in Ghana and Africa in order to accelerate rural development in various aspects of human life. Some of the emerging strategies being implemented in Ghana and for that matter Africa are explained below and their implementation strategies analyzed.

4.2 AgriculturalDevelopment
The Rural Enterprise Programme which is been implemented by the government will target entrepreneurial poor people in rural areas and is expected to benefit about 200,000 people. By giving additional impetus to agro-processing and agricultural and livestock value chain development, it will generate employment, particularly for women, who are well placed to benefit given their involvement in traditional agroprocessing, and for young people.

The programme’s overall objective is to improve the livelihoods and incomes of poor women and men in rural areas through small businesses and microenterprises supported by relevant, good-quality and sustainable services. More specifically, the programme will increase the number of small businesses and microenterprises that generate profit, growth and employment opportunities.

Also with the government’s desire to develop the agricultural sector, the government in collaboration with the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) is embarking on a programme to provide funds for farmers in the rural areas by providing soft loans to these farmers so as to increase their productivity

4.3 Local Economic Development
Local economic development talks about the ways the government, business, NGO’s, stakeholders, among others contribute in creating better conditions for economic growth.

Business development services. The Rural Enterprise Programme will strengthen the technical and entrepreneurial skills of rural micro and small-scale enterprises (MSEs) by providing access to business development services at the district level. Business advisory centres (BACs), which function under the district assemblies, will be the main delivering mechanism for these services. The 66 existing BACs will be further strengthened, while new BACs will be established in the remaining 95 rural districts of Ghana. This is to help the rural dwellers to access credit easily.

Technology promotion and dissemination. The programme will upgrade the level of technology within the rural MSE sector by facilitating the promotion and dissemination of appropriate technologies in the form of skills training, manufacture of processing equipment, testing and promotion of prototypes, and provision of extension services. It will expand opportunities for local training through partnerships with existing vocational training centres and this will help rural folks to improve upon their knowledge base which can lead to an expansion and improvement of their business.

Rural financial services is aimed at enhancing the access of rural MSEs to rural financial services. It will continue to partner with the estimated 100-120 participating financial institutions in the districts and provide specific incentives to enhance the use of their own credit funds to support rural business of MSEs.

4.4 Integrated Approaches To RuralDevelopment

With respect to the integrated approaches to rural development, all sectors of the economy that are employed for the improvement of the living condition of the rural dwellers in the country is discussed.

Agro-based industrial development, effective natural resource management and environmental governance among others, are all part of the approach used in developing rural areas in the country.

Community Based Rural Development Project (CBRDP) is one of the approach/strategy employed by the government to develop rural areas in Ghana. The Community Based Rural Development Project (CBRDP) aims at building and strengthening the capacities of local government agencies, non-governmental and community organizations and specific public and private service providers to plan, manage and deliver basic services and in support of the decentralization agenda of government of Ghana;

Also The Savannah Accelerated Development Fund (SADF) which is a fund the government of Ghana has set aside to accelerate the development of the savannah areas in Ghana. The fund will also help to improve the livelihood of the inhabitants living in the savannah areas of which most are rural.

Nigeria like most developing countries has developed new strategies concerning integrated approaches to rural development. Some of these strategies are:

Intensify public education on better sanitation, nutrition and lifestyles to promote healthy living.

Mobilize domestic resources for production of value-added products. These are to ensure rapid industrialization driven by strong relationship to agriculture development;

Promote an efficient and accessible industrial and domestic waste management system including the management of the menace of plastic waste.

4.5 Environmental Sustainability
In order to conserve the environment, the forestry department has determined areas of high floral diversity using a measure known as Genetic Heat Index. This is an index of the concentration of rare plants within the forest community. These indices have confirmed that some of the forest reserves have biodiversity that is of global significance. The biodiversity component will confirm, refine and document these priority areas as Globally Significant Biodiversity Areas (GSBAs) within the high forest zone and ensure they are excluded from future timber exploitation.

The component will establish Community Investment Funds to channel funds to the affected communities to assist in the establishment of alternative livelihood options. These strategies will help to improve the living condition of the rural folks as the community investment funds will provide alternative livelihood for the rural dwellers.

Due to the degradation of the environment especially due to the drilling of oil in some parts of Nigeria the government has formulated strategies to help solve these problems. These comprise of:

v Establishment of National Environmental bodies in rural areas to help protect their forest;

v The publication of documents providing guidelines and standards for environmental pollution control in Nigeria;

v Strengthen the machinery of desertification and erosion control agency; and

v Utilize space-base research for environmental management.

4.6 Infrastructural Development
The village infrastructure project aimed at fighting poverty in the rural areas of Ghana in order to improve the quality of life of Ghana’s rural poor by increasing the transfer of technical and financial resources to improve basic village level infrastructure. Some of the components of VIP include:

Rural water infrastructure, support the provision of hand dug wells, boreholes, hand pumps as well as small reservoirs.

Rural transport infrastructure, support the provision of small access roads, village tracks and trails and small bridges.

Village post-harvest infrastructure, support threshing and drying floors and provide basic village storage

CHAPTER FIVE
FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION
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5
5.1 Introduction
Challenges are external inhibiting factors, thus they delay the progress of developments whiles implications elaborates on the impacts. This chapter emphasizes on challenges in the implementation of these rural development strategies and their implications for rural planning and resource development.

5.2 Challenges
An approach such as the Accelerated Project Implementation approach failed as result of the Regional Planning Committees’ inability to serve as a link between regions and the central planning agencies in Accra in matters of economic development. The lack of sufficient authority and a prudent budget to deal with local development issues, which transcended sectoral decision accounted for the demise of the strategy. The mandate given them was weak and blurred. They had neither legal status nor a significant budget.

Sustainability has been constrained in the rural finance component by below-market interest rates to final borrowers and poor credit discipline. The sustainability of the Seed Growers’ Association is not assured because of the failure to link the group effectively with inventory credit and missing links in the chain between small farmers’ demand and supply. In the irrigation component, the main issues are the incomplete irrigation infrastructure and the poor quality of works.

Under the infrastructural development, the major challenge is the delay in disbursement of funds as these projects require huge sum of fund in it commencement.

Also the sustainabity of the environment also faces a great challenge since the rural folks do not adhere to rules concerning the depletion of the environment.

5.3 Implications
The rural enterprise programme’s will help to improve the livelihoods and incomes of poor women and men in rural areas through small businesses and microenterprises supported by relevant, good-quality and sustainable services. More specifically, the programme will increase the number of small businesses and microenterprises that generate profit, growth and employment opportunities.

The programme will upgrade the level of technology within the rural MSE sector by facilitating the promotion and dissemination of appropriate technologies in the form of skills training, manufacture of processing equipment, testing and promotion of prototypes, and provision of extension services. It will expand opportunities for local training through partnerships with existing vocational

training centres.
Primary data collected by the evaluation suggests that some households served by the project had increased their assets, but non-beneficiaries have also seen improvements in the decade 1995-2005. Those households that have received financial services from participating banks have reported income increases through opportunities for investments in trading and farming. However, the overall impact of UWADEP has been quite modest, due to limited implementation achievements.

The introduction of the rural banks would make capital available to the people at the grass root, hence, would be self empowered to develop their own economic ventures, hence poverty reduced.

Modernized farming will promote a structural transformation between agriculture and industry.

5.4 Conclusion
To conclude, if the government implements the policies designed it will enhance national development since majority of Ghanaians live in rural areas. It is therefore envisaged that approaching rural development in holistic manner would propel rural development in Ghana. This requires the efforts of institutions, community based organizations including international organizations since the government cannot single handedly see to development of rural areas.

References
Brown, C.K.: Rural Development in Ghana; Ghana University Press, Accra: 1986

Lele, U.J.: The Design of Rural Development-Lessons from Africa; Baltimore Johns Hopkins University Press; 1975

NDPC: 2006 Annual Progress Report on the Implementation of the GPRS II, Sept, 2007

NDPC: Draft of Medium-Term National Development Framework 2010-2013, Aug 2009 (version 3.0)

NDPC: Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy II,NDPC, November 2005

TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
1.1 Introduction. 1
1.2 Objectives. 2
1.3 Scope. 2
1.4 Methodology. 2
1.5 Expected Output 3
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW AND PRESENTATION OF THE CHARACTERISICS OF RURAL COMMUNITIES

2.1 Introduction. 4
2.2 Definition of Terms. 4
2.3 Characteristics of Rural Communities. 5
2.4 Concept of rural development 5
CHAPTER THREE
ASSESMENT OF PAST RURAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES

3.1 Introduction. 7
3.2 Agricultural Development 7
3.3 Infrastructural development 8
3.4 Local Economic Development 9
3.5 Integrated Approach To Rural Development 10
3.6 Environmental Sustainability. 10
CHAPTER FOUR
EMERGING RURAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES IN GHANA

4.1 Introduction. 12
4.2 Agricultural Development 12
4.3 Local Economic Development 12
4.4 Integrated Approaches To Rural Development 13
4.5 Environmental Sustainability. 14
4.6 Infrastructural Development 15
CHAPTER FIVE
FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION
5.1 Introduction. 16
5.2 Challenges. 16
5.3 Implications. 16
5.4 Conclusion. 17

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