Rural development: Missing component in development agenda
One development expert once said, urban and rural areas are interdependent; two sides of the same coin and as such, one side cannot be developed at the expense of the other. But in Ghana Urban development is the dominant trend.
Sustainable Development Goals
The Sustainable Development Goals forecast that by 2030 over half the World’s population would be living in urban areas; and by projection it has been estimated that by 2050 about 70 per cent of the world’s population will be living in big cities; and that high urbanization rates would be experienced in developing countries especially in Africa and Asia.
Ghana is experiencing a rapid rate of urbanisation, estimated at 4 per cent annually. As at 2024/2025, 59 per cent of its population live in urban areas; starting incredibly from a mere 25 per cent in 1962. And Accra the capital was by 2021, 87 per cent urbanised
Since the mid-1990s the Ministry of Local Government, Decentralization, Rural Development and Environment (MLGRDE) then, embarked on a series of World Bank Urban focused programmes.
These focused on Regional Capitals like Accra, Kumasi, Tamale, and Sekondi/Takoradi; and attention has now been turned to what is termed “secondary Cities” Development Project.
Urbanisation has positive attributes but has also negative externalities. Ghana’s rapid growth is concentrated in the southern enclave of Accra/ Kumasi/Takoradi and this may not augur well for the effective manifestation of the positives of urbanisation.
Rather than downplay the efforts towards coping with urbanisation, this paper seeks to call for a look at rural development, and draw attention to how it can be used to support job creating activities.
No one is talking about Rural Development (RD) as an essential component of national development.
Even the Ministry which housed rural development has delinked it and replaced it with Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs.
That has been the plight of Rural Development since long.
It has changed from Ministry to Ministry until it found a well-deserved abode at Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development in 1986; a span of 40 years. But has this been impactful?
The Decentralization and Local Government Policy embarked on, would have suggested that rural development, as a development component, would have thrived better. But this may not be wholly positive.
A cursory study of the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF) may give one the belief that the funds made available for the District Assemblies will surely be an avenue for effective rural development effort; but again, this can’t be said to be what prevails.
No aspects of the DACF specifically relates to rural development. And this is indicated by the numbers of pathetic pictures on TV screens of persons in rural communities calling on government for potable water, educational facilities, health care facilities and feeder roads
It is indeed incomprehensible that Rural Development is not discussed as a vital component of national development. Instead of the totality of national development planning being discussed, significant attention is concentrated on national statistical data such fiscal policies, GDP, GDP/Debt Ratio, Inflation etc. But economic statistical indices hardly reveal the true situation on the ground.
Rethinking rural development.
When RD first came on board in 1968/69 it was seen as the provision of socio-economic amenities in rural areas, but that was a fair attempt at implementing the policy. It had a budget line.
Today, its name has been delinked from the name of its mother Ministry.
It is time RD is seen differently, considering that virtually all agricultural activities which are the backbone of our economy, take place in the rural areas.
RD has been ignored for so long; and it’s no wonder that produce such as rice, tomatoes and onions are still being imported.
Rural areas have been inadvertently impoverished by urban advancement; nonetheless developing rural areas holds the key to overall national development.
Conclusion
Governments in the recent past had embarked on a variety of jobs promising programs: The Presidential Special Initiatives; One District One Dam, One District One Factory are but just a few.
Many development analysts have concluded that many of these initiatives could have had greater impacts if they had been positioned within a rural development framework.
Now, we have the 24HR Economy and the Farming Service Centres, both designed to support job creation activities.
My inclination is that development in Agriculture and Agro- Industry sectors hold the sway for creating a massive number of job opportunities.
And for this to happen, the efforts of job creation must be buttressed on a sound foundation of RD.
Ghana needs to re-think Rural Development because of its significance; and the fact that urbanisation comes with its own challenges, RD becomes an imperative choice to pursue for balanced development.
The writer is a planer/FGIP.
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