The Changing Rural Socal Institutions: Implications For Agricultural Development Strategies In Sub-Saharan Africa
Abstract
That rural social organizations, structures and institutions are changing and have brought great implication for agricultural development strategies is no news, but the critical issue is about the direction of change and the response of rural sociologists and agriculturists to these changes within the context of agricultural practice. It is an established fact that over 60% oi agricultural activities in the Sub-Saharan Africa are domiciled in the rural areas and is associated with crude methods of resource utilization (machetes and hoes, etc) and that agriculture accounts for 20% of Sub-Sahara Africa's GDP (Vyas & Casley, 1998). This pager identifies enormous and fundamental challenges that hinder effective agricultural practice in Sub-Saharan Africa. Some of these challenges are ecological, socio-demographlc and institutional in nature. It therefore, argues that circumventing these challenges become a panacea to improved agricultural practice in the region.
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