The objective of this paper is to document, assess and characterize the role Ghana's agriculture has played as a safety net when the urban labor market suffered economic shocks. The study explores how agriculture influences non-agricultural dependent households. Specific attention is given to...

This paper investigates the current demographic crisis in Bulgarian rural areas and potential solutions for overcoming it. The future development of rural areas in Bulgaria will depend on the practical implementation of the National Plan for Rural Development – NPRD (2007-2013)....

The main directions of rural policy aimed at improving the quality of life and stimulate economic activities in the EU are: improving and developing infrastructure; diversification and development of economic activities; training and education of the population in rural areas. Indicators used for...

This paper examines the relationship between rurality and poverty, and the role the agricultural sector can play in rural development, poverty reduction, and overall development. The historical views regarding the role of the primary sector in development are presented, and then using original...

Rural development processes can be interpreted as the result of an increasingly complex interplay of different driving forces. The 'rural web' concept, developed recently as a theoretical framework, emerges as the intersection of six inter-related dimensions (endogenity, novelty production,...

During the past decades farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa had been prevented from making more intensive use of their mostly under-utilised production potentials by unattractive prices and market conditions, which in many countries were reinforced by a less than conducive policy environment. At the...

During the farm crisis of the 1980s we began to better understand the inherent faults of an industrialized food system. Despite large gains in productivity, efficiency, and economies of size, thousands of farms were in foreclosure. Many farmers were overly extended in debt. Others were in...

Since the beginning of transition, rural economies in Central and Eastern Europe have undergone a strong restructuring with increasing urban-rural disparities. The analysis of the rural situation on the basis of GDP p.c., investments, unemployment and sectoral structures leads to the question on...

By this study, the intention of the authors is to analyze the state of the agriculture in two New European Union (EU) Member States, the influence of the European structural funds, the perspectives of the rural economies in the frame of the new European regulations and the tendencies in rural...