Abstract: | The deterioration in Africa's rural sector in the 1980s is a reflection of a combination of factors, such as the declining trend in per capita incomes; the widening gap between demand and supply for labour, and the increase in unemployment both in the rural sector and in the urban informal sector; the decline in primary school enrolments, particularly in rural areas; the increase in infant mortality; the deterioration of the nutritional status of children in rural areas; the poverty in which 70 percent of the African population lives, the majority of which in rural areas. Despite the adoption of the Lagos Plan of Action and of various programmes designed to facilitate Africa's recovery, performance in the rural sector has been poor so far. A re-examination of existing priorities, strategies, bureaucratic structures, and decisionmaking processes is needed at all levels. Ref. |