Farewell to Farms: De-Agrarianisation and Employment in Africa

First published in 1997, this volume asks whether Africas future is necessarily rooted in peasant agriculture. The title of this book, Farewell to Farms, is deliberately intended to challenge the widely held view that Africa is the worlds reserve for peasant farming. African rural populations are themselves moving away from a reliance on agriculture. De-agrarianisation takes the form of urban migration as well as the expansion of non-agricultural activities in rural areas providing new income sources, occupations and social identities for rural dwellers.

Using recent continent-wide case study evidence, the authors assess the impact of de-agrarianisation on household welfare, business performance and national development. Their findings, which reveal new economic trajectories and social patterns emerging from a period of accelerated change, call into question assumptions about Africas future place in the world division of labour.