RURAL DEVELOPMENT – CONTEMPORARY ISSUES AND PRACTICES Edited by Rashid Solagberu Adisa Rural Development – Contemporary Issues and Practices Edited by Rashid Solagberu Adisa Published by InTech Janeza Trdine 9, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia Copyright © 2012 InTech All chapters are Open Access distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license, which allows users to download, copy and build upon published articles even for commercial purposes, as long as the author and publisher are properly credited, which ensures maximum dissemination and a wider impact of our publications. After this work has been published by InTech, authors have the right to republish it, in whole or part, in any publication of which they are the author, and to make other personal use of the work. Any republication, referencing or personal use of the work must explicitly identify the original source. As for readers, this license allows users to download, copy and build upon published chapters even for commercial purposes, as long as the author and publisher are properly credited, which ensures maximum dissemination and a wider impact of our publications. Notice Statements and opinions expressed in the chapters are these of the individual contributors and not necessarily those of the editors or publisher. No responsibility is accepted for the accuracy of information contained in the published chapters. The publisher assumes no responsibility for any damage or injury to persons or property arising out of the use of any materials, instructions, methods or ideas contained in the book. Publishing Process Manager Romina Skomersic Technical Editor Teodora Smiljanic Cover Designer InTech Design Team First published March, 2012 Printed in Croatia A free online edition of this book is available at www.intechopen.com Additional hard copies can be obtained from [email protected] Rural Development – Contemporary Issues and Practices, Edited by Rashid Solagberu Adisa p. cm. ISBN 978-953-51-0461-2 Contents Preface IX Section 1 Introduction 1 Introductory Rural Development in the Chapter Twenty-First Century as a Global Necessity 3 Rashid Solagberu Adisa Section 2 Issues and Concepts 15 Chapter 1 Sustainable Agriculture – A Panacea for Achieving Biodiversity Conservation and Rural Development in Sub-Saharan Africa? 17 Simon M. Munthali, Richard M. Mkandawire and Nasson Tembo Chapter 2 Renewable Energy for Rural Development – A Namibian Experience 33 Ravinder Rena Chapter 3 The Multi-Functionality of Agriculture and Territorial Governance – A Learning Process in an Island Environment (Réunion) 55 Michel Dulcire, Eduardo Chia and Marc Piraux Chapter 4 New Insights into the Assessment of Protected Areas – Integrating Rural Development 75 Iker Etxano Chapter 5 Land Use Conflict Between Farmers and Herdsmen – Implications for Agricultural and Rural Development in Nigeria 99 Rashid Solagberu Adisa Chapter 6 Technological Model and Sustainable Rural Development for Rainy-Spell Corn Producers in Mexico 119 Miguel A. Damián-Huato, Artemio Cruz-León, Benito Ramírez-Valverde, Agustín Aragón-García, A. Patricia Ramírez-Carrasco and Jesús F. López-Olguín VI Contents Chapter 7 Gender Issues in Agricultural Extension and Rural Development in Nigeria 139 Stella O. Odebode Chapter 8 Social Marginality and Subsistence Agriculture – Way of Life in Rural Communities in Central Mexico 157 María Estela Orozco Hernández Chapter 9 From Tsetse Control to Sustainable Rural Development – Progress and Opportunities for an Ethiopian Community 173 Johann Baumgärtner and Getachew Tikubet Section 3 Policy and Practices 197 Chapter 10 Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) of Rural Development Programs in the European Union – Towards a More Efficient Monitoring of the Environmental Effects of Agricultural Policies 199 Agata Spaziante, Carlo Rega, Mirko Carbone and Chiara Murano Chapter 11 Financial Resources in Rural Development – An Analysis of Relational Capital in Credit Cooperatives 223 Elies Seguí-Mas and Ricardo J. Server Izquierdo Chapter 12 Statistics for Rural Development Policy 241 Berkeley Hill Chapter 13 Integrated Marketing Approach as a Rural Development Tool 257 Yavuz Topcu Chapter 14 Development Potentials of Rural Areas – The Case of Slovenia 283 Anton Perpar and Andrej Udovč Chapter 15 Tracing the Consequences of Economic Crisis in Rural Areas – Evidence from Greece 311 Stavros Zografakis and Pavlos Karanikolas Chapter 16 Direct Food Marketing at Farm Level and Its Impacts on Rural Development 337 István Fehér Chapter 17 The African Experience with ICT for Rural Women’s Development 355 Meera K. Joseph Contents VII Chapter 18 When Life Style Entrepreneurs Establish Micro-Businesses in Rural Areas – The Case of Women in the Danish Countryside 375 Lise Herslund and Hanne Tanvig Chapter 19 A Chronicle of the Timber Industry in East Arnhem Land, Australia 393 Cecil A.L. Pearson and Klaus Helms Preface Meeting the challenge of attaining overall development has for a long time been the preoccupation of all nations of the world. Because of the multi-faceted and all- encompassing nature of ‘development’, even the most advanced nations of the world today are battling with many ‘developmental’ challenges. Suffice it to agree with the notion that development is a process and not a destination. Increase in per capita/real income, enhanced sources and distributive mechanisms of wealth, and advancement in technological and administrative manpower are sine qua non, but not sufficient in the developmental process. Development also entails some environmental, cultural, social, psychological, and political requisites. Another crucial index of development is ‘balanced development of both urban and rural centers’ (Umeabu, 2008). No nation would achieve any meaningful success in the development process without deliberately and fairly paying attention to the developmental needs and prospects of its rural communities. A realization of this perhaps explains the increasing policy and research focus on rural development worldwide. Unfortunately, rural communities in most parts of the world are still mired in poverty, disease and other forms of backwardness. Although the population of the developing world is still more rural than urban (IFAD, 2011), the twentieth century witnessed a significant decrease in the percentage of people inhabiting rural areas worldwide. Global rural population declined from about 87% in 1900 to 71% in 1950, and 51% 2005. At the beginning of the 21st century, just about 76 countries worldwide had above 50% rural population. According to Wimberley (2008), what was referred to as the ‘day of transition’ or ‘urban millennium’- when global urban population exceeded rural population for the first time, was reached on December 16, 2008. What are the implications of this scenario for rural communities? Is the world moving towards total de-ruralization? Are we having more cities and less rural communities? Are rural communities becoming urbanized? Is rural development becoming more attainable or less relevant? These questions are perhaps easier to ask than answered. But there are yet more questions. For instance, what are the contemporary challenges of rural communities; who or what created them; how are they being met, and to what degree of success or failure? Again, there is no consensus among stakeholders on the answers to these questions. It is almost certain that there would never be. In other words, rural development and its attributes X Preface and tributaries shall continue to be controversial in the policy and professional realms. But given man’s infinite quest for, and acquisition of knowledge and solutions, rural development, like every other field of human venture must evolve and employ realistic approaches while confronting perennial and emerging issues. Rural development issues are crucial to the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The aim of this book is to provide a wide-ranging single volume that addresses the major issues, concepts and practices concerning rural development across the globe. The book also aims to fill the knowledge gaps and offer evidence-based policy recommendations on contemporary problems associated with overall management and development of rural communities in both developed and developing countries. Particularly, as developing countries continue to battle with perennial developmental problems such as poverty and illiteracy, while grappling with emerging ones such as shortage of energy, climate change and increasing resource-use conflict, there is need to offer practicable models that would provide rapid and lasting responses. This book seeks to contribute to the promotion of this process. There are three sections in this book of 20 chapters. The first section consists of one chapter (Chapter 1) – the introductory chapter. Chapter 1 is a general overview of rural development and argues that for the world to witness meaningful overall progress in the 21st century and get near achieving the MDGs, rural development efforts must take the center stage. The chapter, which should be of interest to the non- specialist reader as well, consists of sub-topics that discuss ‘rural’; rural development; factors affecting rural development; and importance, problems, and indicators of rural development. The chapter concludes with suggestions on strategies that developing countries can use to overcome rural development challenges. The remaining 19 chapters are grouped in to two sections: (1) Issues and Concepts, and (2) Policy and Practices. The former consists of 9 chapters (Chapters 2 - 10), while the latter is made up of 10 chapters (Chapters 11 - 20). The section on issues and concepts in rural development begins with Chapter 2, which addressed sustainable agriculture and its potentials to enhance biodiversity conservation and rural development in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The chapter offered a conceptual overview of sustainable agriculture and its performance in SSA. It also discussed the conditions under which sustainable agriculture could contribute to improved food production, biodiversity conservation & rural development in SSA. Chapter 3 chronicles the Namibian experience in renewable energy technologies for rural development. The chapter provides an overview of the pertinent issues surrounding the use of renewable energy technologies (RETs) to increase access to modern energy services in rural areas of Namibia. Chapter 4 focuses on territorial governance and multi-functionality of agriculture. The chapter also addressed sustainable agriculture in relation to territorial governance and analyzed the tools and institutional arrangements of stakeholders in order to ensure territorial management, with emphasis on the learning processes. Chapter 5 examines land use conflicts between cattle herdsmen and arable crop farmers in Nigeria and its implication for agriculture and rural development. The