Impact of non-farm activities on rural poverty

Abstract

Rural poverty means the deprivation of basic needs of inhabitants in the rural sector, which is a geographic area located outside the cities and towns. Eradicating or at least reducing rural poverty was given highest priority within the overall policy framework of almost all developing countries, mainly because poverty incidence in this sector is considered as one of the major obstacles for overall development. Although, various subsidiary programs have been tested by individual countries for over many decades, still poverty in this rural sector is considerably high. In order to have a long term solution for the deprivation of needs in rural human being, Non-Farm-Opportunities would be sustainable strategies. For over past two-three decades, large number of studies have been documented in relation to this theme. In the present study, a substantial amount of published articles were referred in order to grasp the real gravity of Non-Farm-Opportunities such as poverty alleviation tools in the rural sector. The objectives guiding the analysis of literature were to; understand the relationship between income and poverty, identifying the existing barriers in the field of rural Non-Farm-Opportunities, and the impact of the lack of resources in rural sector to Non-Farm-Opportunities, identifying the impact of education to Non-Farm-Opportunities, discuss the relationship among education, human development and rural agricultural productivity and to observe the employability of rural youth as Non-Farm-Opportunities. This review is instigated by searching key academic databases using relevant search questions. The literature suggests that overall there is an inverse relationship between Non-Farm-Opportunities of the rural and the level of poverty.