‘IT'S ALL WORK AND HAPPINESS ON THE FARMS’: AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT BETWEEN THE BLOCS IN NKRUMAH'S GHANA

2019 ◽  
Vol 60 (01) ◽  
pp. 25-44
Author(s):  
KERI LAMBERT

AbstractThis study assesses the agricultural sector under the government of Kwame Nkrumah as a dynamic Cold War front. After Ghana's independence in 1957, Nkrumah asserted that the new nation would guard its sovereignty from foreign influence, while recognizing that it needed foreign cooperation and investment. His government embarked upon a development program with an emphasis on diversifying Ghana's agriculture to decrease her dependence on cocoa. Meanwhile, both the United States and the Soviet Union sought to establish footholds in Ghana through agricultural aid, trade, and investments. In the first years of independence, the Ghanaian state encouraged smallholder farming and American investment. Later, in a sudden change of policy, the government established large-scale state farms along the socialist model. This article brings to light the ways that Ghanaians in rural areas engaged with and interpreted the increasingly interventionist agriculture projects and policies of Nkrumah's government.

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Vinh Bao Ngoc ◽  
Nguyen Manh Hung ◽  
Phuong Thu Pham

The Vietnam’s agricultural sector had to challenge with its course and learned lessons of further development. Novel policy might be adopted to encourage the private investments and sectors in agriculture. Furthermore, an introduction of new models such as climate-smart or green agriculture and application of modern technology increased productivity at the same time and creating jobs for millions of agricultural workers and reversing the massive rural-urban migration flux. Vietnam’s agricultural sector needs to maintain the reform momentum, particularly liberalization policy, and to boost up agricultural potential. Obstacles such as land limitation policy must be removed to enable large-scale production and encourage private investment in the agricultural sector. To avoid being trapped by its own success, Vietnam is now shifting the old development paradigm that focuses too much on the quantity to the quality of the agricultural production. The government makes major efforts to achieve at the same time agricultural growth, better livelihood of the farmer, and the development of the rural areas. However, Vietnam still needs to prepare a “transition strategy” to overcome the impact of the technological progress on the traditional agricultural workers.


The study examines the process of acquiring large-scale land for investment in the Pru district. Ghana has become one of the destinations for large-scale land deals in Africa, attracting high foreign investments in the agricultural sector. Over the past ten years, the Government of Ghana have leased out large tracts of land for investors, mainly foreign investors. The Pru district in the Bono East Region have large-scale land acquisition by investors. This study aims to examine the process through which large scale land are acquired in the district. The study employed a mixed method approach, where smallholder farmers were interviewed. Focus group discussions were conducted to achieve the objective of the study as well as computing statistical analysis for the socio-demography for the respondents. Both primary and secondary data were employed in the study and the qualitative data was analysed thematically whiles inferential and descriptive statistics with the help of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS Version 20). The study found out that process of acquiring large tract of land for investment purposes include identification of vacant lands, deciding to lease the vacant lands, advertising the vacant lands, assessment of the land by prospective investors, negotiating terms of leasehold and documentation and transfer of ownership. The findings revealed that occupants of farmlands do not participate in decisions leading to the acquisition of those lands by investors, which has a significant influence on the effects of large-scale land acquisition on the livelihood of smallholder farming households. The study recommended that households should be given the opportunity to negotiate for better terms of compensation from investors and the government especially for farming households losing their farmlands.


Author(s):  
Joshua Kotin

This book is a new account of utopian writing. It examines how eight writers—Henry David Thoreau, W. E. B. Du Bois, Osip and Nadezhda Mandel'shtam, Anna Akhmatova, Wallace Stevens, Ezra Pound, and J. H. Prynne—construct utopias of one within and against modernity's two large-scale attempts to harmonize individual and collective interests: liberalism and communism. The book begins in the United States between the buildup to the Civil War and the end of Jim Crow; continues in the Soviet Union between Stalinism and the late Soviet period; and concludes in England and the United States between World War I and the end of the Cold War. In this way it captures how writers from disparate geopolitical contexts resist state and normative power to construct perfect worlds—for themselves alone. The book contributes to debates about literature and politics, presenting innovative arguments about aesthetic difficulty, personal autonomy, and complicity and dissent. It models a new approach to transnational and comparative scholarship, combining original research in English and Russian to illuminate more than a century and a half of literary and political history.


F1000Research ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 301
Author(s):  
P Ravi Shankar ◽  
Arun K Dubey ◽  
Atanu Nandy ◽  
Burton L Herz ◽  
Brian W Little

Introduction: Rural residents of the United States (US) and Canada face problems in accessing healthcare. International medical graduates (IMGs) play an important role in delivering rural healthcare. IMGs from Caribbean medical schools have the highest proportion of physicians in primary care.  Xavier University School of Medicines admits students from the US, Canada and other countries to the undergraduate medical (MD) course and also offers a premedical program. The present study was conducted to obtain student perception about working in rural US/Canada after graduation.  Methods: The study was conducted among premedical and preclinical undergraduate medical (MD) students during October 2014. The questionnaire used was modified from a previous study. Semester of study, gender, nationality, place of residence and occupation of parents were noted. Information about whether students plan to work in rural US/Canada after graduation, possible reasons why doctors are reluctant to work in rural areas, how the government can encourage rural practice, possible problems respondents anticipate while working in rural areas were among the topics studied.Results: Ninety nine of the 108 students (91.7%) participated. Forty respondents were in favor of working in rural US/Canada after graduation. Respondents mentioned good housing, regular electricity, water supply, telecommunication facilities, and schools for education of children as important conditions to be fulfilled. The government should provide higher salaries to rural doctors, help with loan repayment, and provide opportunities for professional growth.  Potential problems mentioned were difficulty in being accepted by the rural community, problems in convincing patients to follow medical advice, lack of exposure to rural life among the respondents, and cultural issues.Conclusions: About 40% of respondents would consider working in rural US/Canada. Conditions required to be fulfilled have been mentioned above. Graduates from Caribbean medical schools have a role in addressing rural physician shortage. Similar studies in other offshore Caribbean medical schools are required as Caribbean IMGs make an important contribution to the rural US and Canadian health workforce.


2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 107-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Петр Акмаров ◽  
Petr Akmarov ◽  
Миршарип Газетдинов ◽  
Mirsharip Gazetdinov ◽  
Ольга Князева ◽  
...  

The description of the main characteristics of the modern stage of development of information technology and global trends in digitalization is given. A brief information is given on the state of informatization in Russia as a whole, as well as in the country’s agriculture. A comparative analysis of the level of digitalization in rural areas and urban districts is given, the main reasons for the differences are highlighted. The necessity of information technologies development in the agricultural sector of the economy, as a factor in ensuring the country’s food security and a factor in the competitiveness of domestic agricultural products, is substantiated. The features of intellectual agriculture, its benefits for producers and for the population are shown. The dynamics of innovative technologies development is given based on the digital economy in recent years with the release of lagging branches of the agro-industrial complex. The regional differentiation of digitalization of the economy among the population is shown, the interrelation of the informatization level of the population with the development of innovative technologies in the economy of the region is shown. Using the example of cellular communication development, the convergence of digitalization level in cities and villages of the country has been proved. The main problems hindering the information technologies development in agriculture and new solutions adopted at the level of the President and the Government of Russia on the development of informatization are highlighted. The most promising areas of agricultural transformation are shown, focused on the digitization of various aspects of the industry and infrastructure production and sales.


Author(s):  
Krzysztof Pawłowski ◽  
Wawrzyniec Czubak

The 2nd pillar of the Common Agricultural Policy plays a very significant role in shaping the image of a modern, European village. It’s impact on the development of agriculture and rural areas seems to be obvious, for example because of the place it occupies in the structure of the European Union budget. However, it’s very important to precisely determine the effects of its implementation. Therefore, in this article the main goal was to show the reasons for diversifying the implementation of the Rural Development Program 2007–2013 in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Against the background of differences in the economic and production situation of the agricultural sector, the design of the Programs was evaluated and it’s impact on changes in the agricultural sectors of these countries was compared. To show the impact of the funds of the second pillar of the CAP, the time range presenting changes in agriculture covers the years before and after integration. Based on them, a comparison of the implemented activities and the structure of their financing has been made.


2016 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sri Hery Susilowati

<strong>English</strong><br />Qualified human resources with a good commitment to develop agricultural sector is one of the determining factors toward sustainable agricultural development. However, agricultural development deals with significant issue especially reduction in the number of young farmers. This paper aims to review structural changes from perspective of aging farmer and declined number of young farmers in Indonesia and other countries. Specifically, this paper identifies various factors causing the changes and describes the policies needed to support young workers to enter agricultural sector. The method used in this paper is both descriptive analysis and cross tabulation. The results show that aging farmers and young farmers decline in Indonesia keep increasing. The phenomena are also found in other countries in Asia, Europe, America and Australia. Various factors causing lack interest of young workers in agricultural sector, namely less prestigious, high risk, less assurance, unstable earning. Other factors are small size land holding, limited non-agricultural diversification and agricultural processing activities in rural areas, slow farm management succession, and lack of incentive for young farmers. To attract youth to enter agricultural sector, it is necessary to transform youth’s perception that agricultural sector currently is interesting and promising. The government needs to development agricultural industry in rural areas, introduces technology innovation, offers special incentives for young farmers, modernizes agriculture, and conducts training and empowerment of young farmers.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Indonesian</strong><br />Sumber daya manusia yang berkualitas dan memiliki komitmen membangun sektor pertanian merupakan salah satu faktor keberhasilan pembangunan pertanian berkelanjutan. Namun, pembangunan pertanian menghadapi permasalahan cukup serius, yaitu jumlah petani muda terus mengalami penurunan, baik secara absolut maupun relatif, sementara petani usia tua semakin meningkat. Tujuan makalah ini adalah melakukan review tentang perubahan struktural tenaga kerja pertanian dilihat dari fenomena aging farmer dan menurunnya jumlah tenaga kerja usia muda sektor pertanian di Indonesia dan di berbagai negara lainnya, mengidentifikasi berbagai faktor penyebab perubahan tersebut, serta kebijakan yang diperlukan untuk mendukung tenaga kerja muda masuk ke  sektor pertanian. Metode penelitian yang digunakan adalah analisis deskriptif dan tabulasi. Hasil analisis menunjukkan bahwa secara umum fenomena penuaan petani dan berkurangnya petani muda di Indonesia semakin meningkat. Kondisi seperti ini bukan hanya terjadi di Indonesia, namun juga di negara-negara lain di Asia, Eropa, dan Amerika.  Berbagai faktor penyebab menurunnya minat tenaga kerja muda di sektor pertanian, di antaranya citra sektor pertanian yang kurang bergengsi, berisiko tinggi, kurang memberikan jaminan tingkat, stabilitas, dan kontinyuitas pendapatan; rata-rata penguasaan lahan sempit; diversifikasi usaha nonpertanian dan industri pertanian di desa kurang/tidak berkembang; suksesi pengelolaan usaha tani rendah; belum ada kebijakan insentif khusus untuk petani muda/pemula; dan berubahnya cara pandang pemuda di era postmodern seperti sekarang. Strategi yang perlu dilakukan untuk menarik minat pemuda bekerja di pertanian antara lain mengubah persepsi generasi muda bahwa sektor pertanian merupakan sektor yang menarik dan menjanjikan apabila dikelola dengan tekun dan sungguh-sungguh, pengembangan agroindustri, inovasi teknologi,  pemberian insentif khusus kepada petani muda, pengembangan pertanian modern, pelatihan dan pemberdayaan petani muda, serta memperkenalkan pertanian kepada generasi muda sejak dini.


Slave No More ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 164-196
Author(s):  
Aline Helg

This chapter explores the shock waves caused by the Haitian Revolution and the massive slave insurrection that took both the Americas and Europe by surprise. Despite the rarity of large-scale revolts after 1794, the Saint Domingue insurrection did have a lasting impact on the slaves. The greatest lesson they retained from Haiti was that the institution of slavery was neither unchangeable nor invincible. Amid the troubled backdrop of the age of revolutions, many attentively followed the legal changes upsetting their owners, like the Spanish Códigno Negro, the French abolition of slavery, gradual emancipation laws in the northern United States, and the ban of the slave trade by Great Britain and the United States. Furthermore, after 1794, protests during which slaves claimed freedom they believed to have been decreed by the king or the government, but hidden by their masters, multiplied.


Author(s):  
Khatai Aliyev ◽  
Ilkin Gasimov

The importance of the agricultural sector in the economy of Azerbaijan is high. This sector has always been at the center of economic reforms by the government. This chapter overviews economic and trade policies of the government focused on the development of agricultural production since 1991. Authors carry out analysis of policy changes during separate development stages. The research output presents agricultural policy before the oil boom as mainly devoted to achieving structural transformation from centrally planned economy to the market environment. Within the oil boom period, the government provided substantial fiscal and technical support to the agricultural sector as well as applied tax incentives to farmers but did not pay attention to the transformation from family farming to medium and large-scale production. However, fiscal and macroeconomic challenges of post-oil boom period forced the government to focus on increasing efficiency of the subsidies and incentives and implementation of further agricultural reforms.


Proxy War ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 182-200
Author(s):  
Tyrone L. Groh

This chapter presents a case study for how India initially supported the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) covertly to protect ethnic Tamils in Sri Lanka and then later had to overtly intervene to stop LTTE’s operations during efforts to broker peace. For the duration of the conflict, India’s support remained covert and plausibly deniable. Inside Sri Lanka, the character of the conflict was almost exclusively ethnic and involved the government in Colombo trying to prevent the emergence of an independent Tamil state. Internationally, the United States, the Soviet Union, and most other global powers, for the most part, remained sidelined. Domestically, India’s government had to balance its foreign policy with concerns about its sympathetic Tamil population and the threat of several different secessionist movements inside its own borders. The India-LTTE case reflects history’s most costly proxy war policy.


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