Rural non-farm activities and poverty alleviation in sub-Saharan Africa (NRI Policy Series 14)

This publication is about rural non-farm (RNF) activity in sub-Saharan Africa and the determinants of differential access to RNF incomes. Growing interest in RNF incomes reflects increasing evidence that rural people’s livelihoods are derived from diverse sources and are not as overwhelmingly dependent on agriculture as previously assumed. Moreover, policy-makers are looking to the wider rural economy, to reduce persistent rural poverty and stem urban migration. The determinants of access to RNF activities, or capacity to engage in such activities are discussed. In the ‘growth with equity’ equation, the focus here is on the equity factors