Farewell to Farms De-Agrarianisation and Employment in Africa - African Studies Centre Research Series

Is Africa?s future necessarily rooted in peasant agriculture? The title of this book, Farewell to Farms, is deliberately intended to challenge the widely held view that Africa is the world?s reserve for peasant farming. African rural populations are themselves moving away from reliance on agriculture. 'De-agrarianisation' takes the form of urban migration as well as the expansion of non-agricultural activities in rural areas providing new income sources, occupations and social identities for rural dwellers. Using recent case study evidence from locations throughout the continent, the authors assess the impact of de-agrarianisation on household welfare, business performance and national development. As well-known African and Africanist authorities with an intimate knowledge of the labour patterns of the continent, the authors findings reveal new economic and social trajectories during a period of accelerated change. The freshness of their empirical and theoretical insights should prompt awareness of the inadequacy of current policies, and the significance of de-agrarianisation for Africa?s future place in the world division of labour.