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Not All About Farming: Understanding Aspirations Can Challenge Assumptions About Rural Development

OAR@ICRISAT

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Relation http://oar.icrisat.org/11827/
https://doi.org/10.1057/s41287-021-00398-w
doi:10.1057/s41287-021-00398-w
 
Title Not All About Farming: Understanding Aspirations Can Challenge Assumptions About Rural Development
 
Creator Mausch, K
Harris, D
Dilley, L
Crossland, M
Pagella, T
Yim, J
Jones, E
 
Subject Livelihoods
Agriculture-Farming, Production, Technology, Economics
Kenya
 
Description Rural development is a political topic in which debate has been more focussed on
externally identified needs than on demands or aspirations of the rural population
and polarised between the attractions of urban income earning opportunities and the
importance of rural farming communities for national food provision. The heterogeneity
of local aspirations and their implications for development have barely been
considered. We explore the aspirations of residents of three contrasting regions in
Kenya that vary in their agricultural and off-farm potential. We argue that opportunities
are a major framing influence on aspirations but there is important, and routinely
overlooked, diversity within the communities which could inform future options for
effective development. We outline how development initiatives could be redesigned
to align more closely with aspirations. However, aspirations are a complex concept
and, while our approach offered novel insights, these would be enriched when combined
with household survey data.
 
Publisher Palgrave MacMillan Ltd
 
Date 2021-04
 
Type Article
PeerReviewed
 
Format application/pdf
 
Language en
 
Identifier http://oar.icrisat.org/11827/1/s41287-021-00398-w.pdf
Mausch, K and Harris, D and Dilley, L and Crossland, M and Pagella, T and Yim, J and Jones, E (2021) Not All About Farming: Understanding Aspirations Can Challenge Assumptions About Rural Development. The European Journal of Development Research (TSI). ISSN 0957-8811