Report on Regional Expert Consultation on the impact of technology on rural development Africa, ECA : Addis Ababa, 4 to 8 August 1986

Abstract

The basic cause of needless poverty and hunger in the rural Africa to-day is the stagnation of its main economic base - agriculture. It has settled down to a low level of equilibrium of income, saving and investment over time. Hence, most of the rural people of the region is caught in a vicious circle of a poverty trap. They are below the "absolute poverty line". The country studies show all of them are food-deficit. In Uganda, the breakdown of law and order and expulsion of expatriate community since 1972 were the major reasons for its set-back in rural development and in food self-sufficiency. In Sierra Leone’s the pre-dominance of hand-hoes and inadequate use of bio-chemical inputs are the contributory factors. The same is true of Ghana. Mauritius is a study in contrast in respect of technology and its benefits. Its limiting factor is soil, most of which is comparatively unsuitable for rice cultivation.