Consumption, productivity and labour in rural Sudan

In this thesis four topics are studied empirically. These are the level and pattern of consumption, production efficiency, tenancy and rural-urban migration. The analysis is based on data collected from some villages in rural Sudan and other published data. In the study of consumption, the demand for goods and services as related to the income level of households is analysed. The analysis reveals how consumers allocate marginal increases in their income among the various goods. Income elasticities were also estimated and the price elasticities are derived for a number of commodity groups using an extended version of the linear expenditure system. The perceived minimum subsistence expenditures on some commodities were estimated. The implication of the magnitude of the estimated subsistence level on food for poverty and policy of economic development were then discussed. In this part of the study we also deal with the income distribution which is an important determining factor of the structure of demand. The relationship between size of farm and output per acre is an important issue in production efficiency. We investigate this relationship and draw the implications for land distribution and land reform. One conclusion which emerges from the analysis is that efficiency and equity can be reconciled by the creation of a cooperative movement that could make available the agricultural inputs that farmers are lacking now and which enables risks in production to be undertaken jointly by those who participate in it. In tenancy it is argued that its incidence can be explained largely by imperfections in the market for some factors. One such factor which is found to be positively correlated with land lease is the labour power which is available in the family. The availability of tractor service, hired largely by well-off households, is also found to be positively related to land hire. Rural-urban migration is discussed within the broad framework of the socio-economic factors prevailing in the rural community at large and by focusing attention on some specific factors that are reflected at the household unit. Among the latter we examine the relationship of migration to the output and land holding per capita. The influence of other factors such as income earned outside the family farm, largely through the process of rural-rural migration, education and mechanization is also tested