tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/rural-poverty-39554/articlesrural poverty – The Conversation2024-03-15T12:09:55Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2256382024-03-15T12:09:55Z2024-03-15T12:09:55ZHow meth became an epidemic in America, and what’s happening now that it’s faded from the headlines<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582056/original/file-20240314-20-ipf1yd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=163%2C92%2C4570%2C3009&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Police detectives sort through evidence after raiding a suspected meth lab. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/UrbanMeth/62442edc986247c08ccfff109e7b07e0/photo?Query=meth%20AND%20rural&mediaType=photo&sortBy=creationdatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=7&currentItemNo=6">AP Photo/Jeff Roberson</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Rural America has long suffered from an <a href="https://theconversation.com/when-hes-not-on-drugs-hes-a-good-person-one-communitys-story-of-meth-use-and-domestic-violence-176069">epidemic of methamphetamine use</a>, which accounts for <a href="https://news.illinois.edu/view/6367/548454463">thousands of drug overdoses and deaths every year</a>.</em></p>
<p><em>William Garriott, an anthropologist at Drake University, explored meth’s impact on communities and everyday life in the U.S. in his 2011 book “<a href="https://nyupress.org/9780814732403/policing-methamphetamine/">Policing Methamphetamine: Narcopolitics in Rural America</a>.” Since then, the problem has only gotten worse.</em></p>
<p><em>The rural news site <a href="https://dailyyonder.com">the Daily Yonder</a> spoke with Garriott about what has been driving the <a href="https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/trends-us-methamphetamine-use-associated-deaths">surge in meth use in recent decades</a> and what prompted him to focus on meth in his work. The Conversation has collaborated with The Daily Yonder to share the interview with you.</em></p>
<p><strong>How’d you get interested in methamphetamine as an academic subject?</strong></p>
<p>When I started my Ph.D in anthropology in 2003, I knew I wanted to focus on the Appalachian region of the United States. At the time, I was curious about religious life in the region and its contribution to the growth of Pentecostalism and evangelicalism around the world.</p>
<p>But I had also just taken a course with medical anthropologist Arthur Kleinman. He says that we should seek to understand “<a href="https://tannerlectures.utah.edu/_resources/documents/a-to-z/k/Kleinman99.pdf">what’s at stake</a>” or “<a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/what-really-matters-9780195331325?cc=us&lang=en&">what really matters</a>” for people in their everyday lives.</p>
<p>And what really mattered to people in places like eastern Kentucky at the time was drugs. We now know we were at the beginning of the opioid epidemic. OxyContin was already taking a toll on local communities, and there was little national concern because it was seen as an isolated regional problem (the derogatory term “hillbilly heroin” was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/jun/25/usa.julianborger">getting thrown around a lot</a> at the time).</p>
<p>When I started my dissertation research, methamphetamine had become the primary concern, both regionally and nationally. When the <a href="https://www.justice.gov/archive/ll/highlights.htm#%22%22">Patriot Act</a> was reauthorized in 2005, the only significant addition was anti-meth legislation called the <a href="https://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/meth/cma2005.html">Combat Meth Epidemic Act</a>.</p>
<p><strong>In what sense was the meth surge of the ’90s and early 2000s a rural phenomenon?</strong></p>
<p>Lots of ways. The internet gave people access to meth recipes, and meth cooks tended to be located in rural areas. It was easier to hide and access key ingredients like <a href="https://www.justice.gov/archive/ndic/pubs13/13853/product.htm">anhydrous ammonia</a>. In fact, the number of meth labs grew so quickly that huge swaths of the rural U.S. were labeled <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5816/anthropologynow.5.1.0027">High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas</a> – something that had only been applied to cities like New York and Los Angeles before.</p>
<p>The rural economy was also changing. Jobs weren’t paying as well or were going away altogether. Meth found a niche as a kind of performance enhancement drug for people working long hours at physically demanding jobs – something <a href="https://nyupress.org/9780814732403/policing-methamphetamine/">I saw</a> in the poultry industry in West Virginia, journalist <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/methland-9781608192076/">Nick Reding</a> found in the pork industry in Iowa, and anthropologist <a href="https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/the-alchemy-of-meth">Jason Pine</a> found in general in Missouri. Eventually some folks just left these jobs to work in the meth economy full time.</p>
<p>I think it’s also important to mention how meth was being portrayed in national media as the drug of choice for <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29733233/">poor white people</a>. From there, it doesn’t take much to connect it to rural communities, given how those communities are often thought of as predominantly white and poor in the public imagination.</p>
<p>Anti-meth programs like the <a href="https://montanameth.org/">Montana Meth Project</a> and <a href="https://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/2004/12/the_faces_of_meth.html">Faces of Meth</a> played a big part in this. They were very visual campaigns that focused on the damage meth does to the body. All of the people they pictured appeared to be white. They had sores, scars and sunken eyes. They also were often missing teeth. All of that invokes a lot of stereotypes. Sociologists Travis Linnemann and Tyler Wall have a great <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1362480612468934">journal article on this</a>.</p>
<p>With all of that said, it is important to keep in mind that meth is just as much an urban and suburban problem as a rural one, particularly now. Sociologist <a href="https://www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/women-on-ice/9780813554594/">Miriam Boeri</a> has made this point really clearly. Also, something to keep in mind about Faces of Meth: It was created by a jail deputy in Oregon who used mugshots of people booked into the county jail. The jail is in Portland, so the folks featured probably weren’t living in rural communities at the time.</p>
<p><strong>Your book was called “Policing Methamphetamine.” I’m curious – what made you zero in on that element of meth culture, its policing?</strong></p>
<p>When I began my research, I thought my focus would be on the treatment experiences of people who use methamphetamine. But what I quickly found was that those experiences couldn’t be understood outside of the criminal justice system. Many people only got treatment after an arrest, and often as a condition of probation. One officer told me that people came up to him on the street and asked to be taken to jail so they could stop using drugs. Community members also often channeled their concerns into calls for increased enforcement.</p>
<p>In retrospect, none of this should have been surprising. U.S. drug policy has long focused on <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/war-on-drugs">enforcement</a>. This puts police and the criminal justice system on the front lines whenever and wherever a new drug problem emerges. There is no exception to this dynamic for rural communities. What’s more, the justice system is likely to be the most visible and well-resourced state institution in the community (which is not to say it is sufficiently resourced).</p>
<p><strong>What are the questions you still have about meth in American life?</strong></p>
<p>Today, the most pressing question from my perspective is how meth and opioids are converging. One of the more unfortunate developments is that people have started <a href="https://www.health.state.mn.us/communities/opioids/basics/intravenous.html">injecting meth</a>. There is also the broad contamination of the drug supply with fentanyl.</p>
<p>All of this creates additional public health challenges, particularly in rural communities.</p>
<p>Something else I’m thinking about a lot is what happens when drugs like meth stop making headlines and get replaced by the next drug scourge. Today, people are much more likely to <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2023/06/19/texas-fentanyl-drugs/">talk about fentanyl than meth</a>. This is understandable given the overdose risks, as well as the way news media works. But what are the consequences of this for the communities where meth is still a major concern?</p>
<p>Bigger picture, I’m thinking about meth in the broader context of U.S. drug policy. My next book is about marijuana legalization and justice reform. It’s been interesting because the conversation around cannabis is so different from the conversation around meth. One of the big questions I have is if the kinds of reforms that are following cannabis legalization will do anything to change the conversation around the broader punitive approach to drugs. <a href="https://www.opb.org/article/2024/03/04/oregon-drug-misdemeanor-new-convictions-arrests/">The debate happening right now in Oregon over Measure 110</a> is something I’m watching very closely. It’s a major test case for whether or not a different, less punitive approach to drugs is possible.</p>
<p><em><a href="https://dailyyonder.com">The Daily Yonder</a> provides news, commentary and analysis about and for rural America. The interview accompanies a five-part series on its <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/41tCRxV4af8cl7CuJi6NsN?si=868e20efc47142e4">Rural Remix podcast</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/225638/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Will Garriott received funding for his meth research from the National Science Foundation. His current work on marijuana legalization and cannabis policy reform has been funded by the Wenner Gren Foundation, Drake University, and the Center for the Humanities at Drake University.
</span></em></p>An anthropologist who wrote a book exploring meth’s impact on rural communities explains what drove the epidemic and how it’s changed.William Garriott, Professor of Law, Politics, and Society, Drake UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2232352024-02-26T17:19:25Z2024-02-26T17:19:25ZEngland’s rising rural homelessness is a hidden crisis made worse by looming council bankruptcy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577049/original/file-20240221-30-p5hy7g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=107%2C41%2C5396%2C3622&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/old-caravan-lincolnshire-view-wolds-359588942">ShaunWilkinson/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A number of local councils in England, including Birmingham, Nottingham and Croydon, have effectively declared themselves “bankrupt” in recent years, and <a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/spotlight/economic-growth/regional-development/2024/01/council-bankruptcy-tracker-local-government-authorities-finances">many more are at risk</a>. A decade of cuts to local authority budgets and increasing demands on services such as social care are forcing councils to make difficult financial decisions. But it’s not just inner-city councils in low-income areas whose threadbare services are overwhelmed.</p>
<p>Last year we <a href="https://research.kent.ac.uk/rural-homelessness/home/final-report/">published a report</a> on the rising, yet often hidden, problem of rural homelessness. Our findings show how cuts to local funding and services are affecting people and driving a rise in homelessness in the countryside. </p>
<p>We surveyed 157 housing professionals in local authorities across the UK, and interviewed people experiencing homelessness in Herefordshire, Kent, South Cambridgeshire and North Yorkshire. We spoke to people working in foodbanks, support services, housing providers and health care to map a picture of the current situation. </p>
<p>The vast majority – 91% – of our survey respondents told us that homelessness in rural areas had increased over the last five years. And 83% of those said that homelessness has become harder to address in the same period. </p>
<p>National discussions and media depictions of homelessness tend to focus on urban areas. People sleeping rough in cars, horseboxes and church porches, and those sofa surfing or living in insecure accommodation in rural areas, are frequently overlooked.</p>
<p>The number of people sleeping rough in rural areas has <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/rough-sleeping-snapshot-in-england-autumn-2022">increased by 24%</a> in the last year. There is not much other data available on rural homelessness, because it’s harder to count. The <a href="https://englishrural.org.uk/about-us/research/rural-homelessness-counts-coalition/">Rural Homelessness Counts Coalition</a> of charities, which commissioned our research, is working to improve this. </p>
<h2>Cuts to services</h2>
<p>The funding cuts that have affected local councils for the last ten years have disproportionately impacted rural authorities in relation to homelessness. They receive 65% less funding per head than urban areas for <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/homelessness-prevention-grant-2022-to-2023">homelessness prevention</a>. The financial strain means rural councils are <a href="https://www.local.gov.uk/publications/evidence-led-approaches-tackling-rough-sleeping-rural-communities-local-authority">unable to respond</a> to the growing homelessness problem. </p>
<p>The resources that people experiencing homelessness, and those on the cusp, need to survive are disappearing – and more cuts are on the cards.</p>
<p>Hampshire county council is <a href="https://www.portsmouth.co.uk/news/politics/ps90million-cuts-to-be-made-to-hampshires-services-as-the-council-looks-to-avoid-bankruptcy-4438303">reducing many services</a> to bare minimum levels. In addition to ending homelessness support, this will involve significant cuts to local bus services – further isolating residents.</p>
<p>Kent county council – which, like Hampshire, is <a href="https://www.room151.co.uk/151-news/auditors-kent-will-have-no-other-option-but-to-issue-s114-if-finances-dont-improve/">facing bankruptcy</a> – has had no choice but to withdraw its £5 million a year Kent Homeless Connect service, which helped rough sleepers find housing, jobs and health care. Kent charity Porchlight told us they are preparing for a significant loss of homelessness funding from April 2024, and they have had to turn to public donations to keep their hostels open until the end of the year. </p>
<p>The government has pledged an extra £600 million to local councils across England to help deliver key services, but it’s unclear if any of this will translate into homelessness funding. And in truth, it is not enough to address the scale of the problem we are facing. It’s now up to central government to address the challenges that rural councils are facing.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/one-in-five-councils-at-risk-of-bankruptcy-what-happens-after-local-authorities-run-out-of-money-222541">One in five councils at risk of 'bankruptcy' – what happens after local authorities run out of money</a>
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<h2>Isolation in the countryside</h2>
<p>The pandemic <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/rural-poverty-today/rural-poverty-in-a-pandemic-experiences-of-covid19/F3B23978BBE597B1B051E1B665AB80B8">highlighted</a> the issues facing rural economies. Tourism, hospitality and the leisure industry were been hard hit, and the cost of living crisis has intensified the already high rural premium on food, transport, heating and housing costs.</p>
<p>Those experiencing or at risk of homelessness told us how expensive they found it to eat and travel. They were concerned about widely dispersed or unavailable support services, such as mental health support, food banks and job centres. Many were forced to choose between paying rent, buying food and heating their homes.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Abandoned barn in a field" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577056/original/file-20240221-24-duvqqp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577056/original/file-20240221-24-duvqqp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=285&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577056/original/file-20240221-24-duvqqp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=285&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577056/original/file-20240221-24-duvqqp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=285&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577056/original/file-20240221-24-duvqqp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577056/original/file-20240221-24-duvqqp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577056/original/file-20240221-24-duvqqp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Rural homelessness means sleeping in barns and tents, far from services and other support.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/old-abandoned-farm-barn-ashridge-forest-2285079723">Shen Stone/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>A former civil servant who retired early due to a work-related injury told us that he had been supported by his local authority to find privately rented accommodation in a rural area. His pension, while too high to allow him to qualify for financial assistance, didn’t cover the rent. He has resorted to living in his car, driving from one rural car park to another.</p>
<p>A young man told us that while he had found support from a charity to address his substance misuse problems, he was unable to find a suitable place to rent. The much <a href="https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/benefits/benefits_for_under_35s_in_shared_housing">reduced local housing allowance</a>, the state subsidy for housing costs payable to those under 35, meant that he could only rent a room in a shared house, which was not available in his area. Instead, he is living in a tent in the woods.</p>
<p>Private rents in rural areas have increased so much that local housing allowances are insufficient for those on low incomes. According to Bob Barnett, Strategic Housing Officer at Herefordshire council, there is at least 20% shortfall in LHA in the area, meaning people can’t afford rent. And options like social housing simply are not available in many rural areas.</p>
<h2>The rural housing crisis</h2>
<p>This is part of a bigger picture of reduced housing availability, that is especially acute in the countryside, where the market is driven by retirees and second-home owners.</p>
<p>The Campaign for the Protection of Rural England reported in January 2022 that there had been a <a href="https://www.cpre.org.uk/about-us/cpre-media/cpre-research-explosion-in-holiday-lets-is-strangling-rural-communities/">1,000% increase</a> in homes listed for short-term lets nationally between 2015 and 2021. And 148,000 homes that could otherwise house local families were available as Airbnb-style lets in September 2021.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.cla.org.uk/library/sustainable-communities/">2022 report</a> by
the Country Land and Business Association found that in many rural areas, housing
provision has become divorced from the needs of local people and their incomes. </p>
<p>Without a serious commitment from central government to solving the rural housing crisis, homelessness will continue to increase. And without financial support for local authorities, the suffering of those experiencing homelessness will continue to be ignored.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223235/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Helen Carr receives funding from a consortium of rural and housing charities led by English Rural to fund this research. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Carin Tunåker receives funding from a consortium of rural and housing charities led by English Rural to fund this research.</span></em></p>The number of people sleeping rough in rural areas has increased by 24% in the last year.Helen Carr, Professor in Law, University of SouthamptonCarin Tunåker, Lecturer in law, University of KentLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2161162023-12-01T12:34:49Z2023-12-01T12:34:49ZWhy men in 19th century Wales dressed as women to protest taxation<p>South-west Wales was reeling in the wake of social unrest in November 1843. There had been a series of protests over several years by farmers furious at taxation levels, mainly attacking tollgates. Often, the men involved dressed as women and were therefore known in Welsh as <em>Merched Beca</em> (Rebecca’s daughters). The events that unfolded came to be known as the <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Rebecca_s_Children.html?id=7-ohAAAAMAAJ&redir_esc=y">Rebecca riots</a> in English. </p>
<p>There has been speculation that the name “Rebecca” stemmed from a literal interpretation of <a href="https://biblehub.com/genesis/24-60.htm">Genesis 24:60</a> in the Bible, which refers to Rebekah’s offspring possessing the gates of their enemies. But the truth is, nobody really knows why the name was chosen.</p>
<p>Tollgates had been <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/transportcomms/roadsrail/overview/turnpikestolls/">introduced</a> in Britain from the late 17th century as a means of raising revenue to maintain public roads. They were regulated and maintained by the <a href="https://www.campop.geog.cam.ac.uk/research/projects/transport/onlineatlas/britishturnpiketrusts.pdf">Turnpike Trusts</a>, individual bodies set up by parliament. </p>
<p>Tolls had long been regarded as a burden by the people. But complaints to magistrates about their unfair regulation were largely ignored. The tollgates therefore became regarded as symbols of oppression to be demolished by the Rebeccaites, with unrest largely concentrated across Carmarthenshire, Cardiganshire and Pembrokeshire. </p>
<p>The first recorded appearance of Rebecca was on <a href="https://www.peoplescollection.wales/content/rebecca-riots">May 13 1839</a>, when a tollgate at Efailwen in Pembrokeshire was demolished. Rebecca emerged again during the winter of 1842, with protests <a href="https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/rebecca-riots/">intensifying</a> throughout the summer of 1843. </p>
<p>The attacks targeted tollgates and private property, while toll-keepers and authority figures were also intimidated. These included the local gentry, who upheld law and order locally as magistrates and oversaw the administration of the tolls as members of the Turnpike Trusts.</p>
<p>Those who protested were predominantly young men who were tenant farmers, farm servants and agricultural labourers. But other protesters included non-agricultural labourers from industrialised regions of Carmarthenshire and neighbouring Glamorgan.</p>
<p>A striking element of the protest was the adoption of women’s clothing to conceal the identities of those involved. This was theatrically woven into the ritual of protest as “Rebecca”, the name given to the leader of the various protests, called on her children to tear down any gate that blocked their way. </p>
<p>However, the Rebecca riots were more than just a protest movement against the tolls. They were also a reaction to the socio-economic climate, to agricultural depression, failing harvests, rising levels of rent and the weight of various taxes. All these factors collectively placed substantial pressure on rural communities. </p>
<p>There was also widespread <a href="https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/1834-poor-law/">criticism</a> of the administration of the new <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/livinglearning/19thcentury/overview/poorlaw/">Poor Law</a>, introduced in 1834, which ensured that poor people were housed in <a href="https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/Victorian-Workhouse/">workhouses</a>, where families were separated, subjected to hard work and harsh living conditions.</p>
<h2>Escalation</h2>
<p>On June 19 1843, a procession in the market town of Carmarthen led to the storming of the <a href="https://coflein.gov.uk/en/site/17651/">workhouse</a>. This signalled a turning point that saw the protests intensify, with attacks on private property in addition to tollgates. </p>
<p>There were reports of physical violence and use of firearms too, with one recorded death, that of <a href="https://historypoints.org/index.php?page=site-of-fatal-rebecca-riot-hendy">Sarah Williams</a>, the 75-year-old keeper of the Hendy tollgate in Carmarthenshire. Someone shot her while she tried to rescue her belongings from the burning tollhouse on September 9 1843.</p>
<p>Following the Carmarthen workhouse attack, The Times newspaper <a href="https://oro.open.ac.uk/78848/1/DE-WINTON_A329_RVOR.pdf">sent</a> Thomas Campbell Foster to report on “The State of South Wales”. His reports disseminated news of Rebecca and her daughters across Britain. </p>
<p>Even Queen Victoria was concerned by the events. She wrote in her <a href="http://www.queenvictoriasjournals.org/search/displayItem.do?FormatType=fulltextimgsrc&QueryType=articles&ResultsID=3399090357290&filterSequence=0&PageNumber=1&ItemNumber=1&ItemID=qvj03918&volumeType=PSBEA">journal</a> how she strongly advised the home secretary, Sir James Graham, to apprehend and punish the Rebeccaites. She feared events in Wales would spur on the movement in Ireland to repeal the laws which tied Ireland to Great Britain.</p>
<p>Into the autumn and winter months of 1843, Rebecca and her daughters appeared less frequently. Although a Carmarthenshire land agent, Thomas Herbert Cooke, <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Land_Agent/dy5JEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0">wrote</a> in late November how “an incendiary fire however occurs now and then to let people know that Rebecca is still alive, and sometimes awakes from her slumbers”.</p>
<h2>Government inquiry</h2>
<p>During this time, a government <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Report_of_the_Commissioners_of_Inquiry_f.html?id=W5Z7YgEACAAJ&redir_esc=y">inquiry</a> was conducted into the causes of the riots, reporting its findings in the spring of 1844. Although the tollgates survived, the findings of the inquiry led to greater regulation of the Turnpike Trusts in Wales. New county police forces were also <a href="https://journals.library.wales/view/1386666/1423395/118#?xywh=-1917%2C-209%2C6097%2C3912">established</a> in the wake of the riots. </p>
<p>In total, around 250 tollhouses and gatehouses were <a href="https://museum.wales/stfagans/buildings/tollhouse/">destroyed</a> by Rebecca. In the aftermath, those captured and accused were punished by transportation to the penal colonies in Tasmania. Those such as <a href="https://convictrecords.com.au/convicts/hughes/john/72743">John Hughes</a>, known as <em>Jac Tŷ Isha</em>, were never to return to their native Wales. Others took on an almost mythical identity among local people, such as <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/In_Pursuit_of_Twm_Carnabwth/irhAzwEACAAJ?hl=en">Thomas Rees</a>, or <em>Twm Carnabwth</em>, remembered as the leader of the first Rebecca attack at Efailwen.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A wooden sculpture showing a horse flanked by two women leaping over a gate." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562391/original/file-20231129-19-8ksnxf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562391/original/file-20231129-19-8ksnxf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562391/original/file-20231129-19-8ksnxf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562391/original/file-20231129-19-8ksnxf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562391/original/file-20231129-19-8ksnxf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562391/original/file-20231129-19-8ksnxf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562391/original/file-20231129-19-8ksnxf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A wooden sculpture depicting the Rebecca riots in St Clears, Carmarthenshire.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/wooden-sculpture-depicting-rebecca-riots-1839-517024174">James Hime/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, Rebecca did not disappear entirely, and instances of protest and threatening letters sent in her name appear later in other parts of Wales. During the 1870s, Rebecca and her daughters appeared in protests concerning salmon poaching on the river Wye in mid Wales, <a href="https://journals.library.wales/view/1326508/1326739/35#?xywh=-1863%2C-216%2C6676%2C4285">described</a> as the “second Rebecca Riots”. </p>
<p>In the 20th century, the concept of Rebecca was invoked once more. In 1956, Welsh language newspaper, <em>Y Seren</em>, <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Tryweryn_New_Dawn/zxn5zwEACAAJ?hl=en">inferred</a> that “the spirit of Beca” was once again needed to campaign against the flooding of Cwm Tryweryn in Gwynedd to <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-64799911">create a reservoir</a> to provide drinking water for Liverpool. </p>
<p>And Rebecca continues to resonate in Wales to this day, inspiring <a href="https://nation.cymru/news/welsh-village-to-stage-re-enactment-of-historic-tollgate-attack-that-sparked-rebecca-riots/">re-enactments</a> and community <a href="https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/news/view/2721666-students-and-academics-take-cardiff-university-to-the-urdd-eisteddfod">engagement</a> – it shows that the fight for justice and the tradition of protest continues to play a powerful part in Welsh society.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216116/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lowri Ann Rees does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Rebecca riots saw Welsh farmers disguised as women destroy tollgates as a way of challenging what they believed was an oppressive taxation system.Lowri Ann Rees, Senior Lecturer in Modern History, Bangor UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2073172023-06-22T08:45:54Z2023-06-22T08:45:54ZCities are central to our future – they have the power to make, or break, society’s advances<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530867/original/file-20230608-3016-2sh956.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Dharavi slum in India. Billions of people live in terrible conditions in the world's cities.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Punit Paranje/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>We live in tumultuous times. In the space of just a few years, we have witnessed a surge in <a href="https://ppr.lse.ac.uk/articles/10.31389/lseppr.4">populist politics across the world</a>, a <a href="https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019">global pandemic</a>, a spike in <a href="https://public.wmo.int/en/media/press-release/weather-related-disasters-increase-over-past-50-years-causing-more-damage-fewer">environmental disasters</a> and a fraying of geopolitical relations demonstrated by the <a href="https://www.ft.com/war-in-ukraine">tragic war in Ukraine</a> and <a href="https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/china-taiwan-relations-tension-us-policy-biden">escalating tensions over Taiwan</a>.</p>
<p>That has all occurred against a backdrop of dramatic technological changes that are fundamentally altering the way we work and relate to one another. </p>
<p>Our future is in the balance. Cities will be central to our fate, for two reasons. </p>
<p>First, they are now home to <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/urbandevelopment/overview#:%7E:text=Today%2C%20some%2056%25%20of%20the,billion%20inhabitants%20%E2%80%93%20live%20in%20cities">over half of the global population</a>, a share that will rise to <a href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/en/news/population/2018-revision-of-world-urbanization-prospects.html">two-thirds by 2050</a>. That is something never before seen in human history, and means that the forces shaping life in cities now also shape our world as a whole. </p>
<p>Second, cities throughout history have been the engines of human progress. Cities are where solutions are found – but also where perils are amplified when we fail to act.</p>
<p>This article draws on a book I co-authored with Tom Lee-Devlin, <a href="https://linktr.ee/ageofthecity">Age of the City: Why our Future will be Won or Lost Together</a>, which has just been published by Bloomsbury. As the book’s subtitle highlights, we need to ensure that we create more inclusive and sustainable cities if all our societies are to thrive. </p>
<h2>Cities as seats of populist revolt</h2>
<p>The great paradox of modern globalisation is that declining friction in the movement of people, goods and information has made where you live more important than ever. Appreciation of the complexity of globalisation has come a long way since the early 2000s, when American political commentator Thomas Friedman’s <a href="https://www.amazon.com/World-Flat-History-Twenty-first-Century/dp/0374292884">The World is Flat </a> and British academic Frances Cairncross’s <a href="https://hbswk.hbs.edu/archive/the-death-of-distance-how-the-communications-revolution-is-changing-our-lives-distance-isn-t-what-it-used-to-be">The Death of Distance</a> captured the public’s imagination. </p>
<p>We now know that, far from making the world flat, globalisation has made it spiky. </p>
<p>The growing concentration of wealth and power in major urban metropolises is toxifying our politics. The wave of populist politics engulfing many countries is often built on anger against cosmopolitan urban elites. This has been given expression through <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-32810887">Brexit in Britain</a>, and in support for anti-establishment politicians in the US, France, Italy, Sweden and other countries. </p>
<p>A common thread of all these populist movements is the notion that mainstream politicians, business leaders and media figures cocooned in big cities have let the rest of their countries down and lost interest in “left behind” places and people. </p>
<p>These populist revolts against dynamic cities are rooted in real grievances based on stagnating wages and soaring inequality. </p>
<p>A transformational effort to spread economic opportunity is long overdue. But undermining dynamic cities is not the way to do that. Cities like London, New York and Paris – and in the developing world Mumbai, Sao Paulo, Jakarta, Shanghai, Cairo, Johannesburg and Lagos – are engines of economic growth and job creation without which their respective national economies would be crippled.</p>
<p>What’s more, many of these cities continue to harbour profound inequalities of their own, driven by wildly unaffordable housing and broken education systems, among other things. They are also in a state of flux, thanks to the rise of remote working.</p>
<p>In places like San Francisco, offices and shops are suffering, municipal taxes are declining and businesses that depend on intense footfall – from barbers to buskers – are under threat. So too are public transport systems, many of which depend on mass commuting and are haemorrhaging cash.</p>
<p>All countries, therefore, are in dire need of a new urban agenda, grounded in an appreciation of the power of large cities – when designed properly – to not just drive economic activity and creativity, but also bring together people from many different walks of life, building social cohesion and combating loneliness. </p>
<p>But our focus must extend beyond the rich world. It is in developing countries where most of the growth in cities and the world’s population is taking place. Overcoming poverty, addressing the Sustainable Development Goals and addressing climate change, pandemics and other threats requires that we find solutions in cities around the world. </p>
<h2>Dangers posed for cities in the developing world</h2>
<p>Developing countries now account for most of the world’s city-dwellers, thanks to decades of dramatic urban growth.</p>
<p>In some cases, such as China, rapid urbanisation has been the result of a process of economic modernisation that has lifted large swathes of the population out of poverty. </p>
<p>In others, such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, urbanisation and economic development have been disconnected, with rural deprivation and the flight from danger playing a greater role in the migration to cities than urban opportunity. </p>
<p>Either way, cities are now where the world’s poor are choosing to live. And many of their cities are giant and overcrowded, with residents too often living in appalling conditions. </p>
<p>Appreciating what is happening in the cities of the developing world is essential if poverty is to be overcome. It also is vital if we are to understand why contagious diseases are making a comeback. Modern pandemics, from HIV to COVID-19, have their origins in these cities. </p>
<p>Crowded conditions are coinciding with a number of other trends in poor countries, including rapid deforestation, intensive livestock farming and the consumption of bushmeat, to increase the risk of diseases transferring from animals to humans and gaining a foothold in the population. </p>
<p>From there, connectivity between the world’s cities, particularly via airports, makes them a catalyst for the global dissemination of deadly diseases. That means that dreadful living conditions in many developing world cities are not only a pressing humanitarian and development issue, but also a matter of global public health. </p>
<p>Tremendous progress has been made in the past two centuries in <a href="https://wellcome.org/news/reforming-infectious-disease-research-development-ecosystem">combating infectious diseases</a>, but the tide is turning against us. Cities will be the principal battleground for the fight ahead. </p>
<p>Cities are also where humanity’s battle against climate change will be won or lost. Ocean rise, depletion of vital water resources and urban heatwaves risk making many cities uninhabitable. Coastal cities, which account for nearly all global urban growth, are particularly vulnerable. </p>
<p>While rich cities such as Miami, Dubai and Amsterdam are threatened, developing world cities such as Mumbai, Jakarta and Lagos are even more vulnerable due to the cost of developing sea walls, drainage systems and other protective measures. </p>
<p>At the same time, cities, <a href="https://blogs.worldbank.org/sustainablecities/cutting-global-carbon-emissions-where-do-cities-stand">which account for 70% of global emissions</a>, will be at the heart of efforts to mitigate climate change. From encouraging public transport use and the adoption of electric vehicles to developing better systems for heating and waste management, there is much they need to do.</p>
<p>In 1987, Margaret Thatcher is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/apr/08/margaret-thatcher-quotes">reported to have declared</a>: “There is no such thing as society”, only “individual men and women and families”. In fact, <em>Homo sapiens</em> is a social creature, and our collective prosperity depends on the strength of the bonds between us. If we are to survive the turmoil that lies ahead, we must rediscover our ability to act together. Since their emergence five millennia ago, cities have been central to that. We cannot afford to let them fail.</p>
<p><em>Ian Goldin and Tom Lee-Devlin, <a href="https://linktr.ee/ageofthecity">Age of the City: Why our Future will be Won or Lost Together, Bloomsbury, June 2023</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207317/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ian Goldin receives funding from Citibank, and the Allan and Gill Gray Foundation.
</span></em></p>Cities are where solutions are found – but also where perils are amplified when we fail to act.Ian Goldin, Professor of Globalisation and Development; Director of the Oxford Martin Programmes on Technological and Economic Change, The Future of Work and the Future of Development, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2047012023-05-04T13:06:00Z2023-05-04T13:06:00ZNigeria’s fuel subsidy is gone. It’s time to spend the money in ways that benefit the poor<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523498/original/file-20230429-26-fszr0s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Protestors in Lagos rally against plans to remove the fuel subsidy in 2012. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As anticipated, Nigeria’s new president <a href="https://theconversation.com/bola-ahmed-tinubu-the-kingmaker-is-now-nigerias-president-elect-200383">Bola Ahmed Tinubu</a> has jettisoned the fuel subsidy, which is estimated to cost the Nigerian treasury about <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/nigerias-nnpc-spent-10-billion-fuel-subsidy-2022-2023-01-20/">US$10 billion</a> annually. This is about <a href="https://www.budgetoffice.gov.ng/index.php/resources/internal-resources/budget-documents/president-budget-speech/viewdocument/21#page=7">24%</a> of Nigeria’s 2022 budget.</p>
<p>Fuel subsidies have been in place in Nigeria since the <a href="https://theconversation.com/fuel-subsidies-in-nigeria-theyre-bad-for-the-economy-but-the-lifeblood-of-politicians-170966">1970s</a>. They began with the government routinely selling petrol to Nigerians at below cost. But most Nigerians were unaware that this was being done.</p>
<p>Fuel subsidies became institutionalised in 1977, following the promulgation of the <a href="https://gazettes.africa/archive/ng/1977/ng-government-gazette-supplement-dated-1977-01-13-no-2-part-a.pdf">Price Control Act</a>, which made it illegal for some products (including petrol) to be sold above the regulated price. This law was introduced by the General Olusegun Obasanjo regime to cushion the effects of the surging <a href="https://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/great-inflation#:%7E:text=The%20Great%20Inflation-,1965%E2%80%931982,Fed%20and%20other%20central%20banks.">inflation</a> across the world, caused by increases in energy prices.</p>
<p>In recent years the World Bank has urged Nigeria to remove the fuel subsidy. It <a href="https://www.thecable.ng/world-bank-nigerias-fiscal-debt-pressures-will-increase-if-petrol-subsidy-isnt-removed">argued</a> that failure to do so would exacerbate the country’s fiscal challenges and worsen its debt profile. </p>
<p>The previous administration set June 2023 as the date on which the subsidy would be removed. But an announcement in <a href="https://punchng.com/breaking-fg-suspends-fuel-subsidy-removal/">late April</a> said this had been pushed out.</p>
<p>Nigerians are being hit from all sides by a combination of factors that are making their lives increasingly difficult. These include the <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-64417130">rising cost of living</a>, which is reflected in <a href="https://www.cbn.gov.ng/rates/inflrates.asp?year=2023">double-digit inflation</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/nigerian-workers-struggle-as-cost-of-living-outstrips-incomes-182069">stagnant wages</a>, <a href="https://punchng.com/reps-move-against-non-payment-of-salaries-pensions/">non-payment or the late payment of salaries</a>, a <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-03-26/nigeria-dispenses-banknotes-to-end-three-month-cash-crunch?leadSource=uverify%20wall">cash crunch</a> and <a href="https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/576987-why-fuel-scarcity-persists-across-nigeria-marketers.html">fuel scarcity</a>.</p>
<p>There are concerns that the removal of the subsidy will impose even further hardships on Nigerians by raising fuel and transport costs. This would further erode their real purchasing power and increase the number of the working poor in the country. </p>
<p>In anticipation of fuel price increases, there were <a href="https://www.vanguardngr.com/2023/05/subsidy-removal-commuters-groan-as-fuel-sells-for-n750/">reports</a> of panic buying, long queues, hoarding of fuel and shutting down of petrol stations across the country. </p>
<p>As <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/stephen-onyeiwu-170137">an economist</a> and Nigerian, I have followed debates around subsidies particularly close. Fuel subsidies are not only unsustainable and inequitable, they also lack a sound economic rationale. </p>
<p>Political considerations appear to take precedence over economic logic in this debate. Previous administrations have baulked at getting rid of the fuel subsidy. </p>
<p>In my view removing it could benefit workers and poor Nigerians. But only if it were carefully managed and implemented. I’m in favour of discontinuing the fuel subsidy and distributing a significant portion of the savings to low-income Nigerians. </p>
<p>Resentment towards subsidy removal can be avoided if better alternatives are explained to Nigerians.</p>
<h2>Three reasons why subsidies are bad</h2>
<p><strong>Over-consumption:</strong> Setting the fuel price below the market price encourages over-consumption, with no significant linkage effects on other sectors of the economy. Linkages are usually created when the consumption of a good or service results in the emergence of new economic activities. </p>
<p>Consuming fuel beyond a socially optimal quantity does not have that effect. Instead, it diverts resources away from more productive sectors of the economy. The <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/cop/19-countries-plan-cop26-deal-end-financing-fossil-fuels-abroad-sources-2021-11-03/">global trend</a> is to discourage fuel consumption by making it more expensive through higher sales taxes. Discouraging investment in fossil fuel projects is another route.</p>
<p><strong>Negative outcomes:</strong> Subsidising fuel exacerbates pollution, global warming and road accidents – what economists call <a href="https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/economics/negative-externalities/">negative externalities</a>. This is when one person’s actions negatively affect other people who are not part of the actions. </p>
<p><strong>Inequality:</strong> Subsidies reinforce inequality. The artificial reduction in the market price of fuel benefits upper income households the most because they are the ones who use the most fuel. They own the most cars in Nigeria, especially the ones that guzzle fuel. Nigeria is among the countries with the <a href="https://nigerianstat.gov.ng/elibrary/read/903/#:%7E:text=Estimated%20vehicle%20population%20in%20Nigeria,population%20ratio%20is%20put%200.06.">least number</a> of vehicles per capita, with 0.06 vehicles per person or 50 vehicles per 1,000 Nigerians. With an abysmally low minimum wage of <a href="https://wageindicator.org/salary/minimum-wage/nigeria">N30,000</a> (US$64) per month and non-availability of car loans, most Nigerian workers cannot afford a car.</p>
<h2>Solutions</h2>
<p><strong>Raise productive capacity:</strong> The savings from removing the subsidy should be used to build the productive capacities of Nigerians. These are described by the <a href="https://unctadstat.unctad.org/en/Pci.html">United Nations Conference on Trade and Development</a> as:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>the productive resources, entrepreneurial capabilities and production linkages that together determine a country’s ability to produce goods and services that will help it grow and develop.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>What Nigeria needs urgently is an increase in its productive capacities. It could achieve this through:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>cash subsidies for restarting viable industrial enterprises</p></li>
<li><p>subsidised agricultural inputs for farmers</p></li>
<li><p>loans to students in tertiary institutions</p></li>
<li><p>scholarships for those studying subjects that support industrial development</p></li>
<li><p>investment in technology</p></li>
<li><p>massive investment in infrastructure, with priority for projects that use direct labour </p></li>
<li><p>a special loan programme for entrepreneurs in the informal sector. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>Investments such as these would give Nigeria the biggest bang for its buck, rather than the current wasteful spending on the corruption-infested fuel subsidies regime. </p>
<p>Nigeria’s fuel subsidies have encouraged arbitrage, whereby unscrupulous business people buy fuel at the subsidised price and <a href="https://dailynigerian.com/cross-border-fuel-smuggling/">resell</a> it at a higher price across the country’s borders. This practice is partly responsible for the perennial fuel scarcity in Nigeria.</p>
<p><strong>Cash transfers:</strong> Savings from scrapping the fuel subsidy could be used to augment Nigeria’s Conditional Cash Transfers programme. This was introduced in 2016 as part of the Buhari administration’s <a href="https://statehouse.gov.ng/policy/economy/national-social-investment-programme/">Social Investment Programme</a> (SIP). </p>
<p>Eligible individuals are entitled to a monthly cash payment of 5,000 naira (about US$11). But only <a href="https://www.dataphyte.com/latest-reports/governance/chartoftheday-beneficiaries-by-state-of-nigerias-conditional-cash-transfer-in-2020/">784,176</a> individuals received the payment in 2020.</p>
<p>Fuel subsidy removal will enable the government to significantly increase this number. Individuals with an income of N30,000 per month or less should qualify for a new cash transfer programme. It can be designed to last for six months. </p>
<p>To cushion the effects of subsidy removal, the Nigerian government has obtained an <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/nigeria-secures-800-million-ahead-of-fuel-subsidy-removal/7040296.html">$800 million</a> relief package from the World Bank. The money, which should be added to the pool of funds available for the conditional cash transfer program, is expected to be distributed to 10 million households as cash. </p>
<p>Apart from being an assurance that the government does care for them, a cash transfer would also help stimulate the economy by spurring the demand for goods and services, which has been stagnant.</p>
<p>The inflationary impact of cash transfers from fuel subsidy savings will be minimal, since new money is not created in the economy. In any case, inflation in Nigeria is mainly due to supply constraints, rather than demand.</p>
<p><strong>Safety nets:</strong> There are no institutionalised safety net programmes for most Nigerians, which is why they regard the fuel subsidy as one way in which the government supports poor people. </p>
<p>The harsh reality is that fuel subsidies benefit mainly upper class households, who consume most of the fuel in Nigeria.</p>
<p>To overcome the perception – and to provide genuine support for those struggling to survive – the government should use the savings to subsidise mass transport systems, agricultural inputs, education, affordable healthcare and low-income housing.</p>
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
<p>At first blush, one might think it’s politically risky for the Bola Tinubu administration to start on the rocky foundation of scrapping Nigeria’s fuel subsidy. </p>
<p>But fixing difficult and politically unpopular economic problems is a hallmark of effective leadership. </p>
<p>If implemented properly, fuel subsidy removal may be an important legacy of the Tinubu administration, one that will differentiate him from past administrations.</p>
<p>_This article was updated on 30 May 2023 to reflect the fact that fuel subsidy has been removed. _</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204701/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephen Onyeiwu does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Fuel subsidy removal can benefit workers and poor Nigerians, if the process is carefully managed and implemented.Stephen Onyeiwu, Professor of Economics & Business, Allegheny CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2010602023-03-13T12:37:25Z2023-03-13T12:37:25ZRural poverty is getting worse – and welfare harder to access<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513995/original/file-20230307-2080-jhv7cy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=171%2C40%2C6538%2C4426&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/balallan-scotland-march-25-2022-abandoned-2234722441">mepstock/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In Britain, people imagine poverty as mainly an urban phenomenon. We think of poverty as rundown housing estates or tower blocks, far from the idyllic countryside scenes of shows like Escape to the Country. </p>
<p>But this is only part of the picture. Poverty in rural areas is more widespread than people might think. Fifty per cent of rural households <a href="https://eprints.ncl.ac.uk/263634">experienced poverty</a> at some point between 1991-2008 (54% in towns and cities). Surveys by the <a href="https://www.fca.org.uk/">Financial Conduct Authority</a>, an independent regulatory body, revealed that 54% of rural dwellers were financially vulnerable in 2018. </p>
<p>We <a href="https://policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/rural-poverty-today">have found</a> that low pay, insecure employment, unaffordable housing and poor public transport infrastructure are all factors driving rural poverty. But the figures used to measure poverty (and determine where state support goes) are not always appropriate for rural contexts. </p>
<p>For example, the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/english-indices-of-deprivation-2019">index of multiple deprivation</a>, which governments use to identify areas where poverty is concentrated, can miss rural poverty, which is typically more dispersed. Such indices also use data on lack of car ownership to help measure an area’s poverty – but in a rural area, a car is essential even for poorer households.</p>
<p>Our new book <a href="https://policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/rural-poverty-today">Rural Poverty Today: Experiences of Social Exclusion in Rural Britain</a> shows the reality of rural poverty in Britain, and how the current cost of living crisis is exacerbating it. And while families everywhere are suffering, those in rural areas have more difficulty accessing state support through the welfare system.</p>
<h2>Rural cost of living</h2>
<p>A <a href="https://www.gov.scot/publications/cost-remoteness-reflecting-higher-living-costs-remote-rural-scotland-measuring-fuel-poverty/">2021 report</a> by Loughborough University found that for households in remote rural areas in Scotland, the minimum income standard is typically 15-30% higher than it is for urban households. </p>
<p>Rural living costs are higher largely because of fuel costs for heating and transport, and higher prices for food and other essentials. A 2020 study <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2214629620302747">mapped “double energy vulnerability”</a> – the combination of high fuel costs for transport and for heating – in Britain. The researchers found that rural households face the greatest financial pressure, as they pay a higher proportion of their income on these fuel costs. Rural homes tend to be older, larger, poorly insulated, difficult and costly to retrofit with insulation, and are often not on mains energy supplies.</p>
<p>In 2022, <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1139133/annual-fuel-poverty-statistics-lilee-report-2023-2022-data.pdf">rural households</a> had a higher fuel poverty rate (15.9%) and a larger fuel poverty gap (£956) than households in towns and cities. The fuel poverty rate was even higher (20.1%) for rural households off mains gas, who have to rely on expensive electricity or oil tanks instead.</p>
<p>Estimated fuel poverty rates for rural households in 2023 are higher still. <a href="https://www.eas.org.uk/en/fuel-poverty-set-to-break-the-50-barrier-in-parts-of-scotland_59652/">Modelling by York University in early 2022</a> found that 57% of households in the Western Isles of Scotland (also called the Outer Hebrides) were experiencing fuel poverty, and they estimate that this has now risen to over 80%.</p>
<p>This has real human impacts. In our research, we found older people unable to put on the heating, people collecting firewood and only heating one room, and families unable to afford to refill their oil tanks (which have a minimum delivery of 500 litres) in midwinter. Urban households do not face this problem, as their houses are more commonly on mains energy.</p>
<h2>The welfare state and rural poverty</h2>
<p>Welfare – in the form of benefits and universal credit – should be a source of support for vulnerable households. But in <a href="https://policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/rural-poverty-today">our research</a>, we’ve found that the welfare system is less able to support rural residents who may have unpredictable incomes, don’t have digital connectivity, or who do not have the skills to navigate a complex online system.</p>
<p>There is also a stigma attached to claiming benefits in small communities, where seeking welfare advice or claiming benefits is more visible and may lead to being perceived as lazy and not deserving of neighbours’ help.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A derelict red telephone booth next to the sole remaining wall of a building in a rural area" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514879/original/file-20230313-16-ic1z6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514879/original/file-20230313-16-ic1z6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514879/original/file-20230313-16-ic1z6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514879/original/file-20230313-16-ic1z6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514879/original/file-20230313-16-ic1z6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514879/original/file-20230313-16-ic1z6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514879/original/file-20230313-16-ic1z6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Living in remote areas can make it much harder to access welfare.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/slow-decline-empire-using-example-northern-2140756531">chilterngreen.de/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Many of the challenges welfare claimants in rural areas face are similar to those in urban areas – the complexity and flawed design of the online system, payment delays and unpleasant experiences at assessment centres. But some issues are worse for rural claimants. We heard repeatedly of the inability of the benefits system (both legacy benefits and universal credit) to deal fairly with the volatility and irregularity of rural incomes from tourism, retail, or casual farm and estate work. </p>
<p>This can make household budgeting difficult, and in the most serious cases, increases the risk of debt and destitution. When benefits are overpaid, a frequent occurrence for people on irregular or volatile incomes who are unaware of the error, the overpayments are then deducted from subsequent months’ payments. This “clawback” can leave families with too little to live on.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-it-like-to-be-destitute-in-britain-it-makes-you-feel-like-some-kind-of-underclass-177395">What is it like to be destitute in Britain? 'It makes you feel like some kind of underclass'</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Distanced from support</h2>
<p>Many people are unable to access the very systems which should help them receive support, particularly if they live far from welfare offices. Rural claimants with a long-term physical or mental illness or disability will face strenuous, lengthy journeys to attend work capability assessments, a requirement to receive disability benefits. </p>
<p>In the Western Isles, where there is no assessment centre, residents can wait up to a year before an officer visits the islands, unless they can travel to Inverness or Skye. And as the benefits system moves mostly online, those who don’t have or <a href="https://policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/rural-poverty-today">can’t afford broadband access</a> will struggle to get the help they need. </p>
<p>Reaching and supporting the most vulnerable in rural communities is likely to become even more difficult as the cost of living crisis continues. Meeting the challenge should be front of mind for political parties as they <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/feb/21/rural-communities-in-my-dna-and-important-to-labour-starmer-tells-farmers">compete for the rural vote</a> in the next election.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/201060/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Newcastle University received funding to support this research from Standard Life Foundation, a charity whose objective is to address financial hardship. Mark Shucksmith was principal investigator but received no personal financial benefit. Mark has previously conducted research on rural poverty funded similarly by external grants from Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Scottish Government, Scottish Consumer Council, Scottish Homes, Rural Development Commission, ESRC and EU.
Mark Shucksmith is a Trustee of Carnegie UK, Macaulay Development Trust and European Rural Communities Alliance. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>In her research role at Scotland's Rural College, Jane Atterton received funding from Standard Life Foundation (now abdrn Financial Fairness Trust) to conduct the 'Rural Lives' research on rural financial hardship and social exclusion. Jane has undertaken research on a variety of topics relating to rural businesses and rural communities over the last 20 years with funding from a range of public, private and third sector organisations.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>While employed as a Researcher at Scotland's Rural College, Jayne Glass received funding from Standard Life Foundation (now abdrn Financial Fairness Trust) to conduct the 'Rural Lives' research on rural financial hardship and social exclusion.</span></em></p>High rural poverty rates are driven largely by fuel and transport costs.Mark Shucksmith, Professor of Planning, Newcastle University, Newcastle UniversityJane Atterton, Senior Lecturer and Manager of the Rural Policy Centre, Scotland's Rural CollegeJayne Glass, Researcher in Geography, Uppsala UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1864382022-07-27T14:56:22Z2022-07-27T14:56:22ZFood security ‘experts’ don’t have all the answers: community knowledge is key<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/474682/original/file-20220718-71797-y2eczw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Professor Julian May examining food supplies in the home of Brenda Siko, who runs an unregistered early childhood development centre in Worcester's Mandela Square informal settlement.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ashraf Hendricks</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>South Africa is in the grips of a food system paradox. It’s a country known for its agricultural production and has a sophisticated policy framework. Yet, millions of its residents <a href="https://www.fao.org/3/cb7496en/cb7496en.pdf">are malnourished</a>. Nearly <a href="https://www.fao.org/3/cb7496en/cb7496en.pdf">one in four children are stunted</a> as a result of their mother’s poor nutrition during pregnancy and their own malnutrition in early life. </p>
<p>It is a complex crisis. And responding to it is being made even harder as climate change increasingly hits food production. <a href="http://researchspace.csir.co.za/dspace/handle/10204/10066">Evidence suggests</a> that wildfires, irregular rainfall, heat and droughts will increasingly endanger agricultural production. This will threaten jobs in the agricultural sector. It will also affect the quantity, quality and price of food.</p>
<p>Too often, potential responses or solutions don’t take people’s own daily experiences into account. Researchers fall into the trap of habitual thinking. They make assumptions. But they do not listen to or learn from communities on the front lines of the crisis.</p>
<p>That’s why, in a rural South African town, we <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/oa-edit/10.4324/9781003021339-12/facilitated-dialogues-scott-drimie-colleen-magner-laura-pereira-lakshmi-charli-joseph-michele-lee-moore-per-olsson-jes%C3%BAs-mario-siqueiros-garcia-olive-zgambo?context=ubx&refId=34081abc-c2f0-46fd-bf85-d25c3a8c0d5e">adopted</a> a “learning journey” approach. This is an <a href="https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-10177-230302">innovative research process</a> whereby a broad and inclusive range of participants literally undertake a journey to explore a complex system and gain firsthand experience of problems. </p>
<p>During several “<a href="https://foodsecurity.ac.za/news/breede-river-municipality-hosts-unique-food-security-learning-journey/">learning journeys</a>”, both we and the research participants gained new perspectives on the complexity of processes related to food. Rather than looking at the issue generally, we were able to home in on place-based challenges – and potential solutions. This breaks with traditional modes of thinking that focus on “one size fits all” solutions. </p>
<p>Participants were empowered to take stock of existing local potential. They identified local assets such as crèches and informal traders that might be used to tackle elements of the food system crisis. The research also reminded us, powerfully, that people don’t live in economic sectors. They live in places.</p>
<h2>Immersing into Worcester</h2>
<p>Worcester is about 110 kilometres from Cape Town in South Africa’s Western Cape province and has a population of nearly 128,000. </p>
<p>It is typical of many rural towns in South Africa with a stark reality: a <a href="https://www.groundup.org.za/media/uploads/documents/gg-worcester-report-26.4.21.pdf#page=8">quarter of its children under five are malnourished</a>. Many adults subsist on nutritionally poor diets, resulting in <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34466875/">poor health outcomes</a> like obesity.</p>
<p>Our research group has conducted three learning journeys in Worcester since late 2021. Participants include community members, local and provincial government officials, academics, activists, food advocacy groups and early childhood development practitioners. Together we have visited sites where residents procure both monthly staples and fresh fruit and vegetables and where early childhood development facilities are concentrated. It’s in these places that many Worcester residents purchase food and young children receive both care and food.</p>
<p>Immersing into these places, hosted by people affected by the food system, revealed how different systems overlap to shape dietary health.</p>
<p>The “learning journeys” offered valuable insights. For instance, it emerged that crime is a problem for food retailers as much as for consumers. Without adequate safety, people are vulnerable to crime. Another issue is that a great deal of the fresh produce sold by retailers in Worcester is sourced in Cape Town, rather than locally. This transportation of food, particularly fresh vegetables – when the same produce is grown locally – raises costs and is bad for the environment. </p>
<p>Street traders and spaza shops – small, informal food retailers that are often home-based – did much better in this regard. They offered reasonably priced and diverse fruit and vegetables sourced from local farms. </p>
<p>It also became clear that early childhood development centres play a potentially crucial role in providing nutrition to young children. But school principals complained that it was difficult to officially register their institutions. This prevented them from getting government subsidies to help feed children and from accessing land which they wished to use for food gardens. </p>
<p>After each “learning journey”, participants gathered for “learning labs”. There, people shared their experiences and insights. This is a way for everyone to share their knowledge – and to recognise that “experts” don’t have all the answers. A ward councillor reflected that when programmes don’t address food explicitly, they too often have a negative effect and perpetuate the ills in the food system.</p>
<h2>Consolidating learning, committing to action</h2>
<p>In the final session, representatives from the provincial and local governments and from civil society organisations identified new opportunities for collaboration and implementation.</p>
<p>First, the lessons of this research will be complemented with detailed urban food system mapping data using household surveys. This will be paired with spatial modelling approaches, enabling town planners to predict the likely effect of external shocks to the food system, such as those caused by climate change. They can then take local, targeted mitigating actions. </p>
<p>Work will also be conducted to help local government use food systems management to try to offset the negative impacts of climate change. The Breede Valley Municipality, of which Worcester is part, will be a critical partner throughout this process. </p>
<p>If a climate-resilient food system is to emerge in Worcester, or in similar towns throughout South Africa, it is clear that it will only do so through local cooperation, knowledge co-production, collective action, and the creation of a shared vision of what a socially just and sustainable food system looks like. We believe that our work in Worcester is an important early step in this process.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/186438/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Scott Drimie is affiliated with the Southern Africa Food Lab. In a partnership involving the DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Food Security at the University of the Western Cape, the Southern Africa Food Lab at Stellenbosch University, the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, and the Western Cape Economic Development Partnership, and with the full cooperation of the local Breede Valley Municipality (BVM), ‘learning journeys’ have taken place in the Western Cape town of Worcester. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Eichinger works for the Institute for Environmental Studies at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Some of this work was part of A Long term EU- Africa research and innovation Partnership on food and nutrition security and sustainable Agriculture (LEAP-Agri) and ERA-NET cofund FOSC, research and innovation programmes funded by European Union’s Horizon 2020 under grant agreement No 727715 and grant agreement No 862555.</span></em></p>A ‘learning journey’ research process exposed a broad group of participants to local realities of the food system and childcare in a small town.Scott Drimie, Adjunct Professor, Stellenbosch UniversityMichelle Eichinger, Researcher at the Institute for Environmental Studies, Vrije Universiteit AmsterdamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1813432022-05-08T19:58:46Z2022-05-08T19:58:46ZPoverty isn’t a temporary experience in Australia. We need urgent policy tackling persistent disadvantage<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461195/original/file-20220504-20-66f1uz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C5%2C3970%2C2636&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>We often hear a job is the best way to get someone out of poverty. In many cases this is true, and anti-poverty strategies should prioritise improving people’s access to jobs.</p>
<p>But this isn’t the complete solution. For many – particularly those with disability or substantial caring responsibilities that limit their scope to work – the income support system remains crucial to avoiding persistent poverty.</p>
<p>It may not feel like it at a time of rising living costs, but the incomes of Australians have on average risen substantially over the last three decades and continue to trend upwards – we have never been richer.</p>
<p>However – <a href="https://www.pc.gov.au/research/supporting/deep-persistent-disadvantage">as highlighted by the Productivity Commission</a> – some in the community continue to be left behind.</p>
<p>Our new <a href="https://melbourneinstitute.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/4107629/Breaking-Down-Barriers-Report-4-May-2022.pdf">study of income poverty</a> shows persistent poverty remains a significant problem in Australian society. </p>
<p>Looking back over the first two decades of this century, we found around 13% of the population are persistently poor. </p>
<p>We defined these as people who persistently have to live on incomes that are <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Glossary:At-risk-of-poverty_rate">less than 60% of</a> the median income in Australia (a definition employed by Eurostat for European Union member countries).</p>
<p>Poverty then isn’t simply a temporary experience in Australia, and tackling persistent disadvantage needs to be a policy imperative.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461194/original/file-20220504-21-epehk7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461194/original/file-20220504-21-epehk7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461194/original/file-20220504-21-epehk7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461194/original/file-20220504-21-epehk7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461194/original/file-20220504-21-epehk7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461194/original/file-20220504-21-epehk7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461194/original/file-20220504-21-epehk7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461194/original/file-20220504-21-epehk7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Poverty isn’t simply a temporary experience in Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Why do people descend in poverty – and often stay there?</h2>
<p>Understanding what drives poverty and its persistence is an essential first step to alleviating it. </p>
<p>Using data from the longitudinal Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (<a href="https://melbourneinstitute.unimelb.edu.au/hilda">HILDA</a>) Survey, we examined the extent and nature of persistent poverty among the same sample of Australians tracked over time. </p>
<p>Specifically, we looked at</p>
<ul>
<li>why do people descend into poverty?</li>
<li>why do some people remain in poverty, while others escape it?</li>
<li>why some of those who escape poverty remain out of poverty while others fall back into it.</li>
</ul>
<p>We also examined the degree to which the depth of poverty (how far someone’s income is below the poverty line) impacts on the likelihood of staying in poverty.</p>
<p>We found persistent poverty is more prevalent among:</p>
<ul>
<li>women</li>
<li>single-parent families</li>
<li>older people</li>
<li>Indigenous Australians</li>
<li>people with a disability</li>
<li>less-educated people, and</li>
<li>people living in more disadvantaged regions. </li>
</ul>
<p>This is consistent with <a href="https://povertyandinequality.acoss.org.au/poverty-in-australia-2020-overview-html-version/">previous studies of poverty</a> made at a single point in time.</p>
<p>Perhaps unsurprisingly, those in deep poverty – the poorest of the poor – are the most likely to be persistently poor (up to five times more likely than the average person in the community). </p>
<p>The very poor are therefore a policy priority – not only because they are very poor now, but because they are more likely to remain poor.</p>
<h2>‘Falling’ into poverty</h2>
<p>Similarly, among those initially not in poverty, those with incomes closest to the poverty line – the poorest of the non-poor – are at greater risk of falling into persistent poverty.</p>
<p>Another policy priority therefore needs to be preventing those close to the poverty line falling into actual poverty.</p>
<p>When we examined the “trigger events” for people falling into poverty or rising out of it, we found the household’s success in the labour market is critical. In other words, people need to be able to get a job.</p>
<p>An increase in the number of employed people in the household is strongly associated with lifting people out of poverty. </p>
<p>There is also a strong association between a lack of work and the risk of persistent poverty. </p>
<p>Clearly, then, policy measures geared towards increasing employment, and retaining employment for those already employed, are key to reducing persistent poverty.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461457/original/file-20220505-24-cgvjbn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461457/original/file-20220505-24-cgvjbn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461457/original/file-20220505-24-cgvjbn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461457/original/file-20220505-24-cgvjbn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461457/original/file-20220505-24-cgvjbn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461457/original/file-20220505-24-cgvjbn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461457/original/file-20220505-24-cgvjbn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461457/original/file-20220505-24-cgvjbn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Another policy priority needs to be preventing those close to the poverty line falling into actual poverty.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>It’s not just about jobs, though</h2>
<p>But employment isn’t the only factor of importance. Any change in family type, but particularly becoming a single-parent family, increases the risk of poverty.</p>
<p>More broadly, the household context plays a crucial role in determining individuals’ poverty experiences. </p>
<p>Who you live with, what they do, and what happens to them are important. The household perspective then is critical to understanding poverty and designing appropriate policy responses.</p>
<p>The onset of disability or substantial caring responsibilities is also much more likely to tip you into poverty and keep you there.</p>
<p>Put simply, those who are more likely to experience persistent poverty tend to be constrained in their ability to participate in the labour market. Having a job may not be an option at all.</p>
<p>Focusing only on labour market-related anti-poverty policy measures therefore isn’t enough to fully address persistent poverty in the Australian community. </p>
<p>Many of those highly exposed to persistent poverty have very constrained access to paid work, because of factors such as:</p>
<ul>
<li>long-term health conditions</li>
<li>high caring responsibilities for young children or </li>
<li>significant disabilities.</li>
</ul>
<p>Even among couple-parent households, we found the more dependent children in the household, the lower the probability of exiting poverty. </p>
<p>This highlights the importance of child care assistance to facilitate employment participation and sustained income adequacy for families with young children.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461458/original/file-20220505-26-km89qo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461458/original/file-20220505-26-km89qo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461458/original/file-20220505-26-km89qo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461458/original/file-20220505-26-km89qo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461458/original/file-20220505-26-km89qo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461458/original/file-20220505-26-km89qo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461458/original/file-20220505-26-km89qo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461458/original/file-20220505-26-km89qo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many of those highly exposed to persistent poverty have very constrained access to paid work, because of factors such as long-term health conditions.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>An unavoidable conclusion</h2>
<p>But even improvements in child care assistance aren’t enough. The simple fact is that, for a significant number of people, income support will continue to determine their living standards.</p>
<p>The unavoidable conclusion is that boosting income support payments beyond their current austere levels remains a crucial pillar of policy for governments genuinely committed to reducing persistent disadvantage. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, this does not appear to be on the agenda of either of the major parties.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/181343/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>This story is part of The Conversation's Breaking the Cycle series, which is about escaping cycles of disadvantage. It is supported by a philanthropic grant from the Paul Ramsay Foundation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Roger Wilkins receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the Paul Ramsay Foundation. </span></em></p>Boosting income support payments beyond their current austere levels remains a crucial pillar of policy for governments genuinely committed to reducing persistent disadvantage.Esperanza Vera-Toscano, Senior research fellow, The University of MelbourneRoger Wilkins, Professorial Fellow and Deputy Director (Research), HILDA Survey, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1592762021-05-02T07:46:17Z2021-05-02T07:46:17ZTrying to understand the use of drugs by women farmers in Nigeria’s Adamawa State<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397040/original/file-20210426-21-1v48e0r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Increasing poverty is forcing more women to become farmers in Adamawa State.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/african-woman-in-traditional-clothes-standing-royalty-free-image/1170096581?adppopup=true">dmbaker/Getty Images </a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/statistics/Drugs/Drug_Use_Survey_Nigeria_2019_BOOK.pdf">A national survey</a> on drug use in Nigeria published in 2019 shows that about 14.3 million Nigerians between 15 and 65 years have used psychoactive substances for non-medical purposes. One out of every four drug users is a woman.</p>
<p>We conducted <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15332640.2021.1871694">research</a> on the use of drugs among women farmers in Adamawa State, north east Nigeria. These women are involved in the cultivation of food crops such as maize, beans and rice. </p>
<p>We wanted to find out if they used drugs in a bid to enhance their farming livelihood practices. We also wanted to understand the implications for health and their relationships in the community. </p>
<p>We used data collected from interviews and observations with 50 people who included farmers, business men and women involved in agricultural business, civil servants as well as artisans and unemployed young people. One clear observation that emerged was that more women were becoming the household breadwinners and that this meant that they were under a lot of pressure. </p>
<p>To be able to withstand the stress of farming and to help improve their productivity, some used psychotropic stimulants. These change nervous system function and result in alterations in perception, mood, consciousness, cognition or behaviour. The most used substances were cannabis and tramadol due to affordability and availability. </p>
<p>The study recommended that the government of Adamawa State should establish a rehabilitation centre for addicts in the state. We also recommended that all stakeholders should give empowerment of women in the state serious attention. </p>
<h2>Farming in Adamawa State</h2>
<p>Over 60% of farmers in Adamawa State are women. They work on the land as owners or as hired help. Some are both: they own land and can also be hired to work on another person’s farm. </p>
<p>There are several reasons that women attempt to earn a living off the land. One is rising poverty. The <a href="https://taxaide.com.ng/2020/05/28/2019-poverty-and-inequality-report-in-nigeria/">2019 report on Poverty and Inequality in Nigeria</a> released by the National Bureau of Statistics showed that over 75% of the population of Adamawa State was poor. </p>
<p>The state was only better than Sokoto State (87.73%), Taraba State (87.72%), Jigawa State (87.02%) and Ebonyi (79.76%). The most affected demographic group is women. One of the ways they deal with poverty is to take on farming activities, to feed their families.</p>
<p>The use of substance abuse is not new in the area. A rise in drug and substance abuse was a major reason for the enactment of Adamawa State Unclassified (Local Substance) Abuse Law in 2015. Unfortunately, the law has not led to the intended reduction in substance abuse. </p>
<h2>What we found</h2>
<p>Women in the research team conducted interviews with women farmers and drug sellers. </p>
<p>They asked general questions to explore why women were involved in farming rather than other ways of making a living. The interviewers also asked why respondents were involved in use of drugs. </p>
<p>Questions were also asked about what kind of drugs or substances were used and what effect these had.</p>
<p>Over 60% of respondents said that drug use among female farmers in Adamawa State was a common phenomenon. About 36% did not share this view.</p>
<p>Only four of those we interviewed would talk about their use of drugs and substances. </p>
<p>One woman farmer who answered these questions said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We are human beings. No matter how strong we are, we still get tired while working especially when it is a tedious and strenuous work like farming. We need to take something (like drugs or substances) to prevent quick tiredness and get our work done promptly.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>While there will be health and social consequences of drug use among these women farmers, it is very difficult to track this. This is because data, especially on mental and psychological distress, are generally not available in Adamawa State.</p>
<h2>Next steps</h2>
<p>We recommended the establishment of a rehabilitation centre by the State government would go a long way in helping people who are addicted to drugs. Adamawa State law prohibiting drug addiction and recommending establishment of a rehabilitation centre was passed in 2015. This law has come into operation, but the rehabilitation centre has yet to be established.</p>
<p>It is also recommended that women be empowered by training them in vocational skills and setting them up in small scale businesses. This is necessary because women have become strong economic agents in the state.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/159276/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Saheed Babajide Owonikoko does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Drug abuse among women farmers in Adamawa State, north east Nigeria, is rising.Saheed Babajide Owonikoko, Researcher, Centre for Peace and Security Studies, Modibbo Adama University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1453942020-09-02T09:09:18Z2020-09-02T09:09:18ZNine myths about Indonesian specialty coffee farmers and development<p>As the specialty coffee sector has been developing rapidly in the <a href="https://investigasi.tempo.co/edisi-khusus-kopi/gerai-gelombang-ketiga/index.html">past few years</a>, tighter relations have developed between downstream industry players (roasters) and coffee farmers.</p>
<p>Indonesia produces around 5.5% of total world coffee production, but because of Indonesia’s highly diversified economy, the value of coffee exports is only around 0.13% of GDP.</p>
<p>In the past, farmers planted, harvested and processed arabica coffee beans, and sold these to collectors. The collectors would then deliver the coffee beans to processing factories, before the green beans were either exported or sold to domestic roasters. </p>
<p>Nowadays, roasters are driven to source coffee beans directly from farmers. They are also trying to improve the welfare of these mostly poor farming families. </p>
<p>This creates what we call “relationship coffee”.</p>
<p>Relationship coffee is the product of a relationship between a coffee buyer (roaster) and farmers that usually involves personal interaction, trust and price transparency, as well as a commitment to improving both quality and farmer prosperity. </p>
<p>A roaster, with government and nongovernmental organisation (NGO) support, for example, may help to build a processing unit to be managed by farmers. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0305750X18301682">Our research</a>, which was funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) from 2008 to 2020, involved six case studies of specialty coffee production centres in North Sumatra, West Java, Bali, East Nusa Tenggara, and South Sulawesi.</p>
<p>However, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0305750X18301682">we</a> found that these relationship coffee efforts, although done with good intentions, are having marginal effects in alleviating farmer poverty.</p>
<p>Through this long and intensive interactive study with industry stakeholders, we identified at least nine myths about coffee farmers commonly believed by the government, NGOs and entrepreneurs, but which we believed need to be questioned further.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Baca juga:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/research-land-use-challenges-for-indonesias-transition-to-renewable-energy-131767">Research: land use challenges for Indonesia's transition to renewable energy</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Nine myths about coffee farmers development</h2>
<p><strong>1. Increasing coffee income will always improve farmers’ living standards.</strong></p>
<p>Coffee farmers do not just depend on coffee income. More than 2 million farmers in Indonesia plant coffee as part of their livelihood, but very few <a href="https://www.inderscienceonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1504/IJBCRM.2020.108506"><em>only</em> cultivate this crop</a>. </p>
<p>Coffee is not always the main source of income for farmer households. The farmers’ livelihood is frequently highly diversified (farming and non-farming) to reduce risk. </p>
<p>In our studies, attempts were made to increase coffee income by upgrading the productivity or quality (which affects price). </p>
<p>This requires additional resources (capital, land or labour). This increased resource allocation comes at the cost of other livelihood activities, so it does not always improve their living standard. </p>
<p><strong>2. Producing quality coffee results in higher income.</strong> </p>
<p>This does not always happen because quality improvement involves higher costs and risks for farmers. </p>
<p>These includes labour costs for selective picking, frequent pulping, bean selection, drying, and careful storage. </p>
<p>The selling price often fails to cover these additional costs. </p>
<p><strong>3. Eliminating collectors will result in higher prices for farmers.</strong></p>
<p>The view that collectors are exploitative is not always right. Often, the collector plays a role as an efficient logistics provider and quality supervisor. </p>
<p>These roles are always needed by farmers, and can be provided by cooperatives or downstream buyers.</p>
<p>When these roles are replaced by the farmer cooperatives, inefficiency and bad management frequently lead to higher operational costs and lower prices for farmers. </p>
<p>Further, collectors also have other roles, such as providers of loans and basic supplies, which can be otherwise hard to access for farmers.</p>
<p><strong>4. Advanced coffee processing will always add value.</strong></p>
<p>In general, arabica coffee processing includes pulping, fermentation, washing, drying, hulling, cleaning and grading, roasting, grinding, and brewing drinks. </p>
<p>Although all of these steps can be performed by farmers, farmers do not always see them as important because the steps take more time and money. </p>
<p>When these processing activities are carried out on a small scale, the costs often exceed the added value generated.</p>
<p><strong>5. Limited capital is the main problem for coffee farmers.</strong></p>
<p>Farmers may not have access to financial services, but farmers might not choose to invest in coffee even when they do have access. </p>
<p>Households in rural Indonesia often view farming as part of a diversified livelihood to reduce risk, instead of as a “business”. </p>
<p>For farmers, getting involved in financial services and being in debt can actually be counterproductive. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Baca juga:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-stunting-persists-despite-smaller-numbers-of-poor-people-131773">Why stunting persists despite smaller numbers of poor people</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p><strong>6. Coffee grown in certain areas has superior taste.</strong></p>
<p>Certain areas have strong reputations as producers of high-quality coffee (such as Toraja in South Sulawesi or Gayo in Aceh). This is often connected to geography and local cultural practice.</p>
<p>It has triggered a strong interest in Geographical Indications (mark of product origin registered as intellectual property) in the coffee world, including from the Indonesian government.</p>
<p>But, in fact, quality is the result of a combination of geography and the post-harvest management system - with the latter factor being <a href="https://isiarticles.com/bundles/Article/pre/pdf/103772.pdf">dominant</a>, such that Geographical Indications are rarely effective. </p>
<p><strong>7. Farmer cooperative are the best way to organise farmers.</strong></p>
<p>One purpose of a cooperative is to strengthen the bargaining position of farmers.</p>
<p>But coffee prices in general are decided internationally by the global supply and demand.</p>
<p>A local farmer cooperative will only have a stronger bargaining position if it operates as a farmer union and if its performance is monitored effectively - which has not been the case.</p>
<p>Globally, value chains are increasingly being driven by buyers.</p>
<p>Even in the context of developed countries with a strong cooperative tradition, the bargaining position of farmer cooperatives against retailers and large companies in the downstream industry (lead firms) is <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jeffrey_Neilson/publication/327764501_Hilirisasi_Resource-based_industrialisation_and_Global_Production_Networks_in_the_Indonesian_coffee_and_cocoa_sectors/links/5ba33bd4299bf13e603e4e2f/Hilirisasi-Resource-based-industrialisation-and-Global-Production-Networks-in-the-Indonesian-coffee-and-cocoa-sectors.pdf">still weak</a>.</p>
<p><strong>8. Relationship coffee produces a better-quality coffee.</strong></p>
<p>Cafe owners and roasters often assume they will get better-quality coffee by buying directly from farmers.</p>
<p>But a lot of specialty roasters are small businesses with limited resources.</p>
<p>This means they may not have enough funds to recruit experts on supply chain management.</p>
<p>Dealing with a buyer with limited funds, it is only logical for a farmer to “negotiate” by reducing their own cost and supplying minimum acceptable quality of coffee. </p>
<p><strong>9. The relationship between farmer and roaster is sustainable because of mutual interest.</strong></p>
<p>Relationship coffee sustainability depends on a commitment between roasters and farmers. </p>
<p>The problem is that market pressures and unexpected challenges such as production obstacles, quality reduction, and bad weather can damage the trade relationship.</p>
<p>This happens because in the end roasters will be driven to seek profit in a competitive business and equitable risk-sharing is hard to achieve. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Baca juga:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-conservation-areas-are-not-living-up-to-their-potential-in-indonesia-130463">Why conservation areas are not living up to their potential in Indonesia</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Creating sustainable relations</h2>
<p>Our study draws a complex relationship between coffee and rural development. </p>
<p>Although some farmers receive benefits in terms of price, knowledge and skills, in general, the impact on farmer development is not a significant as that claimed by roasters and development agents. </p>
<p>What is the future of relationship coffee? Does this model offer a sustainable alternative for the upstream value chain and improve the welfare of small coffee farmers?</p>
<p>If roasters are serious about rural development, we recommend they think again about the above myths. </p>
<p>A key message here is that it is important to manage risks effectively and distribute them fairly amongst involved actors.</p>
<p>Conceptually, a livelihoods framework can help explain why certain interventions succeed while others fail. </p>
<p>Although many stakeholders act in good faith to promote rural development, the assumption that coffee is the best pathway out of poverty is not always in line with community livelihood priorities.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Wiliam Reynold translated this article from Indonesian.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/145394/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Angga Dwiartama receives funding from Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Diany Faila Sophia Hartatri receives funding from ACIAR.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jeffrey Neilson receives funding from ACIAR.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Vicol receives funding from ACIAR.</span></em></p>Interventions with good intentions aren’t always fruitful.Angga Dwiartama, Assistant Professor, Institut Teknologi BandungDiany Faila Sophia Hartatri, Peneliti, Pusat Penelitian Kopi dan Kakao IndonesiaJeffrey Neilson, Associate Professor of Economic Geography, School of Geosciences, University of SydneyMark Vicol, Assistant Professor of Rural Sociology, Wageningen UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1357792020-04-10T12:50:19Z2020-04-10T12:50:19Z‘Coronavirus holidays’ stoke rural fury<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/326261/original/file-20200407-41014-3vv8a5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=18%2C42%2C4007%2C2975&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A protest sign in rural Wales.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Allan Shepherd</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Catherine Calderwood, forced to resign as Scotland’s chief medical officer, is far from the only city dweller to have caused controversy by flouting lockdown rules to visit her second home in the countryside. Resentment over <a href="https://nation.cymru/news/police-crime-commissioner-lockdowns-needed-to-avoid-coronavirus-holidays-in-wales/">“coronavirus holidays”</a> is rising.</p>
<p>The Covid-19 crisis has prompted some to seek to escape the city. Green spaces are more appealing than cramped apartments and <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/b58f525c-c49c-4568-89e6-24d3ab2e6389">quick transmission rates</a>. Culturally, city dwellers have long imagined country life to be cleaner, happier and healthier than being in conurbations. Current war metaphors in politics and the media might also cause people in the UK to think of the Blitz, when <a href="https://history.blog.gov.uk/2019/08/30/child-evacuees-in-the-second-world-war-operation-pied-piper-at-80/">more than 1.5 million Britons were evacuated</a> to the countryside – with good reason. But the virus is not a bomb nor a visible enemy. Data from genetics professor Tim Spector’s <a href="https://covid.joinzoe.com">COVID-19 symptom tracker app</a> already suggests that people leaving the city have <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/coronavirus-fears-of-second-home-hordes-bringing-covid-19-to-holiday-havens-may-have-come-true-k868w2fzb">unwittingly packed the virus with them</a>.</p>
<p>Travel restrictions aim to avoid this spread. In Wales, after a sunny weekend saw surging rural visitor numbers, the Welsh government quickly <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-52004559">closed caravan parks and tourist hotspots</a>. These moves were also motivated by the risk of overwhelming local health services. If large urban hospitals struggle to cope with Covid-19, rural clinics and local GPs are even less well-equipped. Failing to follow her own guidance to stay home <a href="https://www.gov.scot/news/statement-from-the-chief-medical-officer/">cost Calderwood her job</a>.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, ire has greeted French authors Leïla Slimani and Marie Darrieussecq, who both revealed that they have traded lockdown in Paris for their <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/apr/06/french-writers-corona-getaways-prompt-backlash-leila-slimani-marie-darrieussecq">rural second homes</a>. Darrieussecq admitted she’d avoided a frosty local reception by hiding her car and its Parisian licence plates. More than epidemiology lies behind the anger.</p>
<p>From my (only) home and <a href="https://rural-urban.eu/living-lab/mid-wales">research base in rural Wales</a>, I’ve watched local anger spill over into bedsheet banners and graffiti warning urban incomers to “go home!”</p>
<p>Old conflicts echo. In the 1980s and 1990s, the “Sons of Glyndŵr” committed dozens of arson attacks against English-owned holiday homes. Nationalism and provocation aside, tensions simmered over local residents being priced out of their own communities by second home buyers with city salaries. The problem hasn’t gone away. A recent <a href="https://www.ippr.org/research/publications/a-new-rural-settlement">report from the IPPR</a> argues that there is a rural “crisis of affordability ”.</p>
<p>Planners and social scientists have long looked at rural second home ownership, finding pluses and minuses. Against rural decline, weekenders keep houses in repair and spend money in local shops and on local tradespeople. They pay taxes without drawing on services. But they can also make services less viable. Second home owners don’t send their children to the village school; they’re unlikely to register with a local GP, rely on public transport or need a nearby bank branch. Without demand, rural services wither.</p>
<h2>Remote problems?</h2>
<p>In reality, the impact of second homes can’t be separated from the wider social and economic processes that continue to change the countryside. Change can be necessary and innovative. Change can also cause harm. Research by <a href="https://www.princescountrysidefund.org.uk/research/recharging-rural">the Prince’s Countryside Fund</a> found that rural residents across Britain are feeling increasingly remote. Physical distance hasn’t changed. Instead, shops and schools have closed, services centralised, and options squeezed. The same sense of getting away from it all that charms city dwellers can feel bleak to locals.</p>
<p>Coronavirus hasn’t created anger that wasn’t already simmering. Those privileged enough to slip the city for a second home haven’t created the challenges rural communities face. But they have exposed the inequalities between those who can relax in the rural idyll, and those struggling to find a house, get a job, or catch a bus. We won’t solve these differences with spray painted signs or forced resignations. But we do need to solve them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/135779/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bryonny Goodwin-Hawkins receives funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreements 726950 and 727988.</span></em></p>Perhaps this crisis will focus minds on the problems caused by neglecting rural areas.Bryonny Goodwin-Hawkins, Postdoctoral Research Associate in Geography, Aberystwyth UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1297012020-01-22T14:15:05Z2020-01-22T14:15:05ZWhat role do assets play in understanding rural poverty?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310908/original/file-20200120-69543-1caj0tr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A Tanzanian farmer tractor driver in Makuyuni, Arusha, Tanzania.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>One of the clearest trends in wealth and poverty in Tanzania is shown by the slow decline in rural poverty <a href="https://www.odi.org/publications/10467-translating-growth-poverty-reduction-beyond-numbers">relative to high national economic growth</a> since the 1990s. <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=_MDXDQAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=ndulu+tanzania+economic+growth&ots=56jWSqpGpH&sig=Xf0vKm28ySazjMMNpb-Sx-N0uvU#v=onepage&q=ndulu%20tanzania%20economic%20growth&f=false">Most explanations</a> of this gap focus on the fact that the sectors which are growing – infrastructure, tourism, mining and service industries – are not rural. Agriculture is the mainstay of rural areas, but it is thought to remain relatively unproductive, is changing slowly, suffers from extensive backwardness and is risk averse. </p>
<p>But this explanation ignores inconsistencies in the data. <a href="https://www.nbs.go.tz/index.php/en/census-surveys/poverty-indicators-statistics/household-budget-survey-hbs/413-the-2017-18-household-budget-survey-key-indicators-report">The same data</a> that report slow declines in rural poverty also show a sustained increase in the quality of housing throughout Tanzania. </p>
<p>How is it possible for a persistently poor rural population to construct such (relatively) good houses? To gain a better understanding of this, our research explored long term trends in rural Tanzania based on asset data. We have recently published this work in <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03066150.2019.1658079">three open access papers</a> in the Journal of Peasant Studies. </p>
<p>Our papers suggest that perhaps the paradox we must explain is not the failure of economic growth to reduce rural poverty. Rather we must explain why the data used to capture poverty lines doesn’t capture the ability of Tanzanians to build relatively good houses. Our work shows that if we are more sceptical about the data being used then the paradox diminishes.</p>
<h2>What the data miss</h2>
<p>First, we have to be cautious about <a href="https://www.nbs.go.tz/index.php/en/census-surveys/agriculture-statistics">data on agricultural productivity</a> given how hard it is to measure what Tanzanian farmers grow and what they do with their harvests. Second, there are restrictions of poverty line data based on measures of consumption. These data exclude outliers – isolated large items of expenditure - that would make poor families look wealthy. They are unlikely to capture unusual expensive items, such as metal roofs on houses. In addition, these measures also systematically exclude all investment in productive assets.</p>
<p>So, investments by a farmer in assets such as her herd, or land, or purchases of inputs such as fertiliser, improved seeds or a plough are not included in the expenditure records used to calculate poverty lines. There are good reasons for these omissions. If you are a shopkeeper and spend US$500 a week on goods for your shop then that expenditure is plainly not part of your household budget. We cannot confuse business related expenditures with household consumption. </p>
<p>By the same logic we must exclude expenditure by smallholders on productive assets for their farms. But this is a problem. For most rural Tanzanians their prosperity is best indicated by precisely these assets. Assets provide income streams in the future and security from shocks. </p>
<p>As leading poverty scholar <a href="https://www.odi.org/publications/10467-translating-growth-poverty-reduction-beyond-numbers">Andrew Shepherd</a> put it:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The key to success in agriculture is accumulating assets – land, oxen, and ploughs. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>So where rural populations are getting richer, and investing in new assets, then poverty line data will, unfortunately, systematically miss these changes. </p>
<h2>What’s in, and what’s out</h2>
<p>The schedule of codes for the <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Glossary:Classification_of_individual_consumption_by_purpose_(COICOP)">Classification of Individual Consumption by Purpose</a> used in <a href="http://opendata.go.tz/dataset/utafiti-wa-mapato-na-matumizi-ya-kaya-binafsi-tanzania-bara-wa-mwaka-2011-12">Tanzania’s 2011/12 Household Budget Survey </a> illustrates the problem. This provides an exhaustive list of all different types of expenditure recorded in a consumption survey, including food, clothing, house costs, furniture, education, water, electricity, insurance and even money spent on prostitution. </p>
<p>But it does not include any purchase of land. Nor does it allow for the purchase of ploughs, power tillers or tractors. Livestock purchase is only recorded if the animal is used for meat. Veterinary services are only recorded for pets and fertiliser for gardens, not farms. It is impossible to mention investment in productive assets because there are no codes for them. </p>
<p>Investment in productive assets is really important for Tanzanian farmers. It is central to their own definitions of wealth. Tracking change in asset ownership over time is hard. But it matters. We have found numerous cases – although not in every case – of families prospering in ways that poverty line data could not capture. </p>
<p>In Rukwa, southwestern Tanzania, for example, we found people are farming larger areas of land, growing more cash crops (such as sesame), and investing the money they make on these cash crops. In Dodoma, in central Tanzania we found that people were building better houses after farming larger areas of land for sunflowers. There are also cases in which assets have not flourished through agriculture. </p>
<p>As research by professor of global development <a href="https://essl.leeds.ac.uk/politics/staff/92/professor-anna-mdee">Anna Mdee</a> shows, in such cases only remittances and rising land values can sustain asset gains. But the general trend is clear: tracking assets provides important additional insights that complement poverty line data.</p>
<p>It is useful to track assets where rural populations are becoming more wealthy. Prosperity dynamics are visible in changing asset portfolios. But there are cautions. First, where people are getting poorer then assets are not a sensitive indicator of stress. Rural people sell them reluctantly. Second, growth in assets does not mean that rural Tanzanians are ‘really’ wealthy. Poverty, and prosperity, are multi-dimensional. </p>
<p>Saving for assets is hard. As our interviewees explained: ‘tumebana matumizi’ – we tightened our belts. And neither consumption nor assets are not necessarily good proxies for morbidity, mortality, education, gender relations and so on. Assets provide an important complication in our understanding of change in rural societies. Where poverty in terms of consumption persists, or grows, then this is no less real for any accompanying growth in assets. </p>
<p>Nonetheless asset data do allow us to look at Tanzanian rural economies afresh. Commonly-used statistics are likely to underestimate these farmers’ contributions to national change and local development. We need to look at assets to see how smallholders create wealth, and the forms of consumption that their activities allow.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/129701/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dan Brockington received funding from the DfID / ESRC Growth Research Programme to conduct this work, and gratefully acknowledges that funding. The grant reference is ES/L012413/2. </span></em></p>Why poverty line data do not capture the ability of Tanzanians to build relatively good houses.Dan Brockington, Director of the Sheffield Institute for International Development, University of SheffieldLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1263062019-11-14T12:59:24Z2019-11-14T12:59:24ZUrban unrest propels global wave of protests<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301580/original/file-20191113-77291-1nxmrnz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C6%2C4176%2C2792&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Chilean police clash with anti-government demonstrators during a protest in Santiago, Chile, Nov. 12, 2019. Santiago is one of a dozen cities worldwide to see mass unrest in recent months.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Chile-Protests/349587027bf24a9d9cb1d90de10bf884/11/0">AP Photo/Esteban Felix</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/why-are-there-so-many-protests-across-the-globe-right-now/2019/10/24/5ced176c-f69b-11e9-ad8b-85e2aa00b5ce_story.html">Numerous anti-government protests</a> have paralyzed cities across the globe for months, from La Paz, Bolivia, to Santiago, Chile, and Monrovia, Liberia, to Beirut.</p>
<p>Each protest in this worldwide wave of unrest has its own local dynamic and cause. But they also <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2019/10/25/global-wave-protests-share-themes-economic-anger-political-hopelessness/">share certain characteristics</a>: Fed up with <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-50123743">rising inequality, corruption and slow economic growth</a>, angry citizens worldwide are demanding an end to corruption and the restoration of a democratic rule of law.</p>
<p>It is no accident, as <a href="https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/central-america-caribbean/2019-10-29/why-latin-america-was-primed-explode">Foreign Affairs recently observed</a>, that Latin America – which has seen the most countries explode into the longest-lasting violent protests – has the slowest regional growth in the world, with only 0.2% expected in 2019. Latin America is also the world’s <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/01/inequality-is-getting-worse-in-latin-america-here-s-how-to-fix-it/">region</a> with the most inequality.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/10/world/americas/evo-morales-bolivia.html">Bolivia’s once-powerful president</a>, Evo Morales – whose support was strongest in rural areas – was forced out on Nov. 11 by a military response to mass urban unrest after alleged electoral fraud. </p>
<p>In October, <a href="https://theconversation.com/lebanon-uprising-unites-people-across-faiths-defying-deep-sectarian-divides-125772">Lebanon’s prime minister</a> also resigned after mass protests. </p>
<p>One under-covered factor in these demonstrations, I would observe as a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Dv_-dxQAAAAJ&hl=enhttps://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Dv_-dxQAAAAJ&hl=en">scholar of migration</a>, is domestic, rural-to-urban migration. All these capital cities gripped by protest have huge populations of desperately poor formerly rural people <a href="https://www.cairn.info/mediterra-2018-english--9782724623956-page-101.htm">pushed out of the countryside</a> and into the city by <a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-change-is-making-soils-saltier-forcing-many-farmers-to-find-new-livelihoods-106048">climate change</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africas-struggling-agricultural-sector-what-went-wrong-20-years-ago-45171">national policies</a> that hurt small farmers or a <a href="https://theconversation.com/who-is-responsible-for-migrants-108388">global trade system that impoverishes local agriculture</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301593/original/file-20191113-77326-6t9jol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301593/original/file-20191113-77326-6t9jol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301593/original/file-20191113-77326-6t9jol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301593/original/file-20191113-77326-6t9jol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301593/original/file-20191113-77326-6t9jol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301593/original/file-20191113-77326-6t9jol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301593/original/file-20191113-77326-6t9jol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301593/original/file-20191113-77326-6t9jol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Backers of ousted Bolivian president Evo Morales march in La Paz, Bolivia, Nov. 13, 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Bolivia-Elections/bf7e9e9d1762473c952642cba48435d8/2/0">AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Rapid urban growth</h2>
<p>Cities worldwide have been growing at an <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/jul/12/urban-sprawl-how-cities-grow-change-sustainability-urban-age">unsustainable pace</a> over the past seven decades. </p>
<p>In 1950, the New York metropolitan area and Tokyo were the world’s only megacities – cities with more than 10 million people. By 1995, 14 megacities had emerged. Today, there are 25. Of the 7.6 billion people in the world, 4.2 billion, or 55%, <a href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/en/news/population/2018-revision-of-world-urbanization-prospects.html">live in cities and other urban settlements</a>. Another 2.5 billion people will <a href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/en/news/population/2018-revision-of-world-urbanization-prospects.html">move into cities in poor countries by 2050</a>, according to the United Nations. </p>
<p>Most modern megacities are in the <a href="https://qz.com/africa/688823/80-of-the-worlds-megacities-are-now-in-asia-latin-america-or-africa/">developing regions of Africa, Asia and Latin America</a>. There, natural population increases in cities are aggravated by surges in rural migrants in search of a better life. </p>
<p>What they find, instead, are sprawling <a href="https://www.insightcrime.org/news/analysis/south-america-drug-slums-jurisdiction-organized-crime/">informal settlements</a>, frequently called <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-humanitarian-summit-urban-crisis-idUSKCN0Y80GA">urban slums</a>. </p>
<p>These marginalized parts of cities in the developing world – called “favelas” in Brazil, “bidonvilles” in Haiti and “villas miserias” in Argentina – <a href="https://blogs.unicef.org/east-asia-pacific/the-dark-of-day-life-in-jakarta-urban/">look remarkably similar across the globe</a>. Ignored by the municipal government, they usually lack sanitation, clean drinking water, electricity, health care facilities and schools. Informal urban settlements are usually <a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/massive-urban-slums-1435765">precariously located</a>, near flood-prone waterfronts or on steep, unstable mountainsides. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301583/original/file-20191113-77305-nugz0y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301583/original/file-20191113-77305-nugz0y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301583/original/file-20191113-77305-nugz0y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301583/original/file-20191113-77305-nugz0y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301583/original/file-20191113-77305-nugz0y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301583/original/file-20191113-77305-nugz0y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301583/original/file-20191113-77305-nugz0y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301583/original/file-20191113-77305-nugz0y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An urban slum in Jakarta, Indonesia, April 3, 2017. Jakarta has seen regular outbreaks of protest since May 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Indonesia-Daily-Life/50adf90547c94f898ba7b39c5342e8b8/18/0">AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Their economy and, to a significant degree, politics, are <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/research/bringing-the-state-to-the-slum-confronting-organized-crime-and-urban-violence-in-latin-america/">infiltrated by gangs</a> – organized crime groups that profit off the illegal trafficking of drugs, people and weapons. These gangs, in turn, may be <a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/massive-urban-slums-1435765">linked to political parties</a>, serving as their <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/40553119?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">armed enforcers</a>.</p>
<p>Many rural migrants, who lack identity documentation, social entitlements, housing and financial services, are forced to work in these illicit labor markets. </p>
<p>This system replicates in a predatory, illegal form the <a href="https://oxfordindex.oup.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100310810">patron-client relationship</a> still common in many developing countries, in which a rural economic elite provides employment, loans, seeds, cash or protection for farmers in exchange for “taxes” – usually a share of the farmer’s produce – and political fealty. </p>
<p>In the unstable market economy of the urban slum, <a href="https://www.un.org/ruleoflaw/files/Challenge%20of%20Slums.pdf">gangs are the patron</a>.</p>
<h2>A staging ground for discontent</h2>
<p>The injustices of this daily life underlie the anger of many of today’s protesters. From Quito, Ecuador, to Beirut, the extreme marginalization of so many people living in big, dysfunctional and dangerous places has boiled over into deadly unrest. </p>
<p>In Haiti, for example, the majority of demonstrators who’ve staged <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/04/opinion/haiti-protests.html">nine straight weeks of massive protests</a> against documented official corruption, gasoline shortages and food scarcity are extremely poor Port-au-Prince residents. They are highly motivated to keep protesting because they are facing starvation.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301591/original/file-20191113-77342-1krg6v2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301591/original/file-20191113-77342-1krg6v2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301591/original/file-20191113-77342-1krg6v2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301591/original/file-20191113-77342-1krg6v2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301591/original/file-20191113-77342-1krg6v2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301591/original/file-20191113-77342-1krg6v2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301591/original/file-20191113-77342-1krg6v2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301591/original/file-20191113-77342-1krg6v2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">People in the Cite Soleil slum, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, wait for government-distributed food and school supplies, Oct. 3, 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/APTOPIX-Haiti-Political-Crisis/0fab5cb697ef4794b291c63bd3f1a76f/1/0">AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Even Chile, which technically is the wealthiest Latin American country, has an awful lot of <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-50123743">very poor people struggling to get by</a>. Its current protests, which began in mid-October with a hike in the Santiago subway fare, are disproportionately composed of youth and rural migrants from Santiago’s poor outskirts. Among Latin American countries, Chile has the second-highest rate of internal migration in <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5362059/">all of Latin America</a>, second only to Panama. Bolivia ranks fifth in the region.</p>
<p>It is not the actual movement of rural people into cities that <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0738894215581315">creates social upheaval</a>, according to a 2015 analysis of 20 years of data on internal migration, poverty and inequality for 34 cities in Africa and Asia. Rather, it’s the overall poor and unequal educational and housing opportunities that rural-to-urban migrants face in cities – coupled with their <a href="https://homerdixon.com/tag/project-on-environment-population-and-security/">socioeconomic marginalization</a> – that <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0738894215581315">spurs urban discontent</a>. </p>
<p>People who fled impoverished countryside only to find poverty in the city, too, are demanding more. Two centuries after the <a href="https://mappinghistory.uoregon.edu/english/EU/EU06-00.html">peasant rebellions that toppled monarchies across Europe</a>, cities have become the stage for the kind of <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-50123743">resentment and frustration</a> that can destabilize entire nations.</p>
<p>[ <em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/126306/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Henry F. (Chip) Carey does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>From Santiago and La Paz to Beirut and Jakarta, many of the cities now gripped by protest share a common problem: They’ve grown too much, too fast.Henry F. (Chip) Carey, Associate Professor, Political Science, Georgia State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/768052019-05-05T07:36:06Z2019-05-05T07:36:06ZThe role of rural women in making home brew: a Rwandan case study<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/270869/original/file-20190425-121233-v0an9r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Traditional non-alcoholic and alcoholic beverages are made from locally available produce - like bananas</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pascale Gueret/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Across <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0029665155000293">sub-Saharan Africa</a> traditional non-alcoholic and alcoholic beverages are made from locally available produce like cereals, fresh milk, fruits, and vegetables. Ethiopia, for example, is famous for its alcoholic beverage <a href="https://www.omicsonline.org/open-access/indigenous-processing-methods-of-cheka-a-traditional-fermented-beverage-in-southwestern-ethiopia-2157-7110-1000540.php?aid=66658"><em>Cheka</em></a>, while <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2306-5710/4/2/36/htm#B5-beverages-04-00036"><em>mahewu</em>, <em>tobwa</em> and <em>mangisi</em></a> are non-alcoholic cereal-based drinks popular in Zimbabwe. </p>
<p>And it’s <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9781137466181_8">usually women</a> that are the custodians of the knowledge on how to produce them. This comes with their traditional role of staying home – while men went away to work – which allows them to oversee production, like the fermentation processes. </p>
<p>My colleagues and I <a href="https://journals.psu.edu/ik/article/view/60438/60763">wanted to</a> know whether these local brews could be a good way to bring employment to women in rural Rwanda. We examined four traditional beverages and looked at whether existing institutions – like banks, NGOs, the government and academic institutions – support these industries. </p>
<p>In Rwanda, despite the government’s great commitment to the advancement of women, there are still <a href="https://www.afdb.org/fileadmin/uploads/afdb/Documents/Publications/Rwanda_-_Analysis_of_Gender_and_Youth_Employment.pdf">not enough</a> women in employment. Though women account for more than half of Rwanda’s workers, men are <a href="https://www.afdb.org/fileadmin/uploads/afdb/Documents/Publications/Rwanda_-_Analysis_of_Gender_and_Youth_Employment.pdf">more likely</a> to have wage employment. Many women actually work without pay. This is especially true among rural women who are mostly subsistence farmers. </p>
<p>Local brew production could offer a solution – by getting more women into it, and by improving the industry for those already in it. Although still hugely popular in rural areas, we found that there is little support from the government to develop the local brew industry because it’s viewed as unhygienic and hard to tax. </p>
<p>Yet, because the produce is readily available and the women already have the knowledge on how to make it, if properly harnessed and developed, it’s a fantastic opportunity. </p>
<h2>What the research found</h2>
<p>I led a group of researchers from the University of Rwanda, supported by the <a href="https://www.idrc.ca/">International Development Research Centre</a>, to conduct studies on the possibility of indigenous beverages to contribute to economic empowerment. These included; Sorghum beer – <em>ikigage</em> – a popular fermented drink that’s usually had at celebrations, <em>Ubushera</em> a non-alcoholic drink made with sorghum, Banana wine – <em>urgwagwa</em> – and the banana non-alcoholic drink – <em>umutobe</em>. </p>
<p>We interviewed 100 rural women who produced and sold the beverages. Producers often doubled as middlemen and retailers, with small lock-up spaces fitted with tables and chairs to serve customers. Also interviewed were 10 producers of <em>umutobe</em> who bottle and sell their products to middlemen and distributors. </p>
<p>Results showed that the beverages had great potential for improving the livelihoods of rural women. </p>
<p>Most of the women we interviewed had been in the business for over 10 years and had steady profits. These ranged from USD$.40 cents to USD$1 per 20 litres. And sales could reach as many as 40 twenty litre jerry cans per week – at least US$16 a week. By comparison, if they worked in the tea industry <a href="https://www.minimum-wage.org/international/rwanda">they would</a> earn about USD$6 dollars a week. Their profits meant they could employ casual workers, sometimes as many as five. </p>
<p>We also found that before starting their businesses some of these women were unable to afford meals for their families. Their businesses meant that they were able to put food on the table, pay school fees, purchase health insurance and secure decent living spaces. </p>
<h2>Challenges</h2>
<p>The women we spoke to said they faced a wide range of challenges. </p>
<p>Some indigenous products have a short shelf life, ranging from one to seven days. </p>
<p>The women we interviewed also don’t have collateral which meant that they couldn’t get loans from financial institutions to grow their business. For example, though they wanted to package their drinks so that they would last longer and so they could sell them in other areas, they couldn’t because the cost of packaging was too high. </p>
<p>Another big issue was that there’s a diminishing supply of indigenous crops, like sorghum. Rwanda is now a <a href="http://fews.net/sites/default/files/documents/reports/Quarterly%20GHA%20Cross%20Border%20Trade%20Bulletin%20December%202015.pdf">net importer</a> of sorghum. This happened because of <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1006731&type=printable">invasive weeds</a> like striga, which destroys harvests, and unfavourable government policies, like the <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/267533132_Farm_Land_Use_Consolidation-a_Home_Grown_Solution_for_Food_Security_in_Rwanda">prioritisation</a> of eight crops that don’t include sorghum. </p>
<p>The same applies to bananas. Because banana cultivation takes up a huge amount of arable land, the government has started encouraging citizens to grow other food products, like cassava, soybean, maize and Irish potatoes. These take up less space, are nutritious and could be lucrative. </p>
<p>But pushing for local beverages is important because this is a traditional knowledge that is already <a href="https://cgspace.cgiar.org/handle/10568/76674">deeply rooted</a> in Rwanda and can be scaled up and developed. </p>
<h2>Answers</h2>
<p>The Rwandan government and development partners can play a key role in improving the production of indigenous products. </p>
<p>Nigerian palm wine is a case in point. Millions of southern Nigerians consume it and local gin is produced from it. The industry <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/282974209_the_nigerian_palm-wine_science_and_socioeconomic_importance">provides</a> employment for hundreds of thousands of Nigerians in rural and urban areas. A conducive environment, and <a href="https://www.tropenbos.org/resources/publications/the+state,+people+and+oil+palm+production+in+nigeria:+understanding+the+policy+nexus">government interest</a>, have ensured the palm wine industry has flourished.</p>
<p>The government must support the women through training on processing, hygiene, aesthetics, customer service, financial literacy, branding and marketing, simple production methods and business management. Support should also be given to help them get access to finances, markets infrastructure and facilities.</p>
<p>_Watch more from Chika: </p>
<p>The movie tag contains https://www.ted.com/talks/chika_ezeanya_esiobu_how_africa_can_use_its_traditional_knowledge_to_make_progress, which is an unsupported URL, in the src attribute. Please try again with youtube or vimeo.</p>
<p>_</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/76805/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chika Ezeanya-Esiobu received funding from the International Development Research Center, Canada to support research on indigenous technology among women in rural Rwanda. She is affiliated with the University of Rwanda and the African Child Press. </span></em></p>Although still hugely popular in rural areas, we found that there is little or no support from the government to develop the local brew industry because it’s viewed as unhygienic and hard to tax.Chika Ezeanya-Esiobu, Senior Lecturer/Researcher, University of RwandaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1082712019-01-15T12:55:36Z2019-01-15T12:55:36ZHow harvesting natural products can help rural people beat poverty<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/253685/original/file-20190114-43520-isy8w4.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Ornamental craft made from palm leaves and pine cone in grass baskets are sold in Eswatini. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Deepa Pullanikkatil</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Every day, people around the world harvest natural products like fungi, plants, bark, flowers, honey and nuts. These <a href="http://www.fao.org/docrep/w7715e/w7715e07.htm">non-timber forest products</a>, as they are known, can play an <a href="https://www.iucn.org/sites/dev/files/import/downloads/ntfps_int_l_ws_proceedings_en_part_1.pdf">important role</a>
– particularly for people living in rural areas.</p>
<p>Products like honey and nuts can be sold. Plants and plant fibre can be used to create furniture, cloth and crafts; herbs processed to make herbal remedies and leaves and flowers sold for ornamental uses. All this contributes to income generation and is a valuable resource for alleviating poverty in rural communities.</p>
<p>Yet Non-Timber Forest Products (or NTFPs) don’t often feature in discussions about poverty reduction and alleviation. One of the reasons for this is probably the lack of qualitative studies on the topic; the kind which feature stories from people who have used them to escape poverty. Users’ voices haven’t been heard enough to help scholars and policymakers understand the links between these products and poverty alleviation, and to harness these in poverty reduction strategies. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783319755793">In our new book published by Springer</a>, <em>Poverty Reduction Through Non-Timber Forest Products</em>, we have tried to fill this gap. Interviewees from Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Peru, Brazil, Portugal, Italy, Nepal, India, China, Uganda, Swaziland, Malawi, Cameroon, Mozambique and elsewhere shared their stories of using various products to create small enterprises and earn money. </p>
<p>Many have also been able to survive shocks such as crop failure, illness, retrenchment and the loss or estrangement of a family’s sole breadwinner. This shows how non-timber forest products can act as “<a href="https://www.povertyandconservation.info/en/importance-non-timber-forest-products-rural-livelihood-security-and-safety-nets-review-evidence">safety nets</a>”.</p>
<p>Non-Timber Forest Products are dwindling worldwide; climate change and overuse of land are contributing to this trend. But such products are still common in many parts of the world and – while there is no one-size-fits-all solution for poverty alleviation – they should be studied and considered in governments’ poverty reduction plans.</p>
<p>Our findings suggest that trade in these products should be promoted among poor people. Governments and development partners need to offer the necessary training, support and access to markets and finance to ensure this happens.</p>
<h2>Stories from Africa</h2>
<p>There are many ways in which Non-Timber Forest Products can be used as an income source. Several approaches are examined and profiled in our book.</p>
<p>In Uganda, for instance, we focused on a small-scale women’s industry called <a href="https://easyafricdesigns.com/our-team/">Easy Afric Design</a> which uses bark cloth made from the fig tree to create handbags and folders. </p>
<p>The women had to overcome the stigma of using bark cloth as a raw material, as it has historically been used for burials. To show other women that the material could be used for more than its traditional purpose, founder Sarah Nakisanze wrapped the bark cloth around her as a skirt. </p>
<p>Now, several rural women work for the company from their homes, making products from bark cloth. This empowers women who didn’t have any other source of income. Many have been able to save money to send their children to secondary school and to purchase assets. </p>
<p>In Swaziland, we profiled Paul Dlamini. He harvests medicinal plants from indigenous forests and sells them in his herbalist shops around the country. With this income he set up a five roomed house, educated nine children and employed several people. He has been able to educate his children beyond his own level of schooling, and to improve his family’s livelihood.</p>
<p>We also share stories from Cameroon and Malawi of people who produce honey and have used the income from their sales to lift themselves out of poverty. The farmer who launched the Malawian initiative, Arnold Kasumbu has become so successful that he now trains other farmers, as well as university students.</p>
<p>Raul Sebastião Nhancume, from Mozambique, had to drop out of school due to poverty and later learnt to use palm (<em>Hyphaene coriacea</em>) leaves to make furniture for a living. Now he has two employees in his furniture manufacturing workshop and sells his products in Mozambique and South Africa. With the income from furniture making, he was able to buy school supplies and uniforms for his two children and has also built a two bedroom brick home. </p>
<p>By investing their earnings into children’s education, many of the people we interviewed were looking to ease inter-generational poverty and improve younger generations’ opportunities. </p>
<h2>Successful approaches</h2>
<p>Some countries have made inroads in using their Non-Timber Forest Products trade for poverty alleviation. As we outline in the book, Brazil and India have provided training, marketing support and certification for NGOs using these products. Other countries could learn from these approaches.</p>
<p>A deeper understanding of how Non-Timber Forest Products can become income sources, as provided through people’s own stories, helps to inform poverty reduction strategies in ways that broad statistics and data can’t.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/108271/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Deepa Pullanikkatil does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Non-Timber Forest Products don’t often feature in discussions about poverty reduction and alleviation.Deepa Pullanikkatil, Co-Director Sustainable Futures in Africa (SFA) Network (Funded by Scottish Funding Council and allocated to the University of Glasgow), Consultant based at CANGO in Eswatini and Co-Founder -Abundance, University of GlasgowLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1057042018-10-30T14:09:22Z2018-10-30T14:09:22ZWomen in positions of power could mark a turning point for Ethiopia’s girls<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/242432/original/file-20181026-7041-ad1gwk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Having women in power may keep Ethiopia's girls in school.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jazzmany/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Within the last month Ethiopia has downsized its cabinet, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2018/10/16/world/africa/ap-af-ethiopia-women-in-cabinet.html">named</a> women to half the positions and, for the first time, appointed <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/10/sahle-work-zewde-named-ethiopia-woman-president-181025084046138.html">a woman</a> as president. </p>
<p>These are huge milestones in Ethiopian politics. They could also mark a turning point for the country’s girls as the women ministers are perhaps more likely to pursue policies that benefit girls. In addition, having women in positions of power will mean that girls have role models they can look up to, something that’s not common in the country. </p>
<p>Girls in Ethiopia <a href="http://info.moe.gov.et/emdocs/esaa01.pdf">lag</a> behind boys in school enrollment and academic achievement, especially at higher levels. Female students make up 48% of all primary students, but only a <a href="http://info.moe.gov.et/emdocs/esaa01.pdf">third</a> of students in higher education.</p>
<p>One reason for this are structural constraints – like access to school and poverty – though cultural practices, such as child marriage, also play a significant role.</p>
<p>Another reason girls don’t complete their studies is a lack of role models. <a href="https://dhsprogram.com/publications/publication-fr328-dhs-final-reports.cfm">Most Ethiopian</a> women, particularly in rural areas, have little education, are seldom in wage-paying jobs and have limited socio-economic status. In schools, <a href="http://info.moe.gov.et/emdocs/esaa01.pdf">only</a> 17% of teachers are women, and only 10% of school leadership positions are occupied by women – adults in positions of power are usually men. </p>
<p>The appointment of many women into positions of power can break stereotypes and inspire girls – potentially influencing their choices and actions.</p>
<h2>Aspirations</h2>
<p>There is increasing recognition among <a href="http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/0195305191.001.0001/acprof-9780195305197-chapter-28">economists</a> and other <a href="https://www.sup.org/books/extra/?id=5765&i=Table%20of%20Contents.htm">social science researchers</a> that an individual’s aspirations influence their choices, behaviour and life outcome. If they don’t feel they’ll improve their position by additional effort or investment, they may <a href="https://www.povertyactionlab.org/sites/default/files/documents/TannerLectures_EstherDuflo_draft.pdf">choose to</a> hold back. But if they see one of their own in positions of power, this can give them hope that some targets are achievable – encouraging more effort and investment. </p>
<p>This has been well documented when it comes to female role models at school and the impact on girls’ education. Studies from <a href="http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/51/2/269.short">India</a>, <a href="http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/early/2017/02/01/jhr.52.4.1215-7585R1.abstract">South Korea</a>, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272775713001684">Chile</a> and the <a href="https://academic.oup.com/qje/article-abstract/125/3/1101/1903648">US</a> show that the presence of female teachers significantly improved the performance of female students. </p>
<p>A study from the US also showed how teachers can influence attitudes towards certain careers – increased <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/buy/2010-25580-001">exposure</a> to female experts in the field of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics motivated more girls to pursue careers within these fields.</p>
<h2>Neglected girls</h2>
<p>Over the past two decades, Ethiopia has achieved <a href="http://info.moe.gov.et/emdocs/esaa01.pdf">significant progress</a> in getting all children into school. Between 2000 and 2016, net enrollment in primary school <a href="http://info.moe.gov.et/emdocs/esaa01.pdf">increased </a> from 49% to 100%, mostly due to improved physical access to school. </p>
<p>But the gender gap persisted. The dropout rate among girls is high, partly due to <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Pauline_Rose4/publication/237731351_Can_gender_equality_in_education_be_attained_Evidence_from_Ethiopia/links/5484a72b0cf283750c3708f4/Can-gender-equality-in-education-be-attained-Evidence-from-Ethiopia.pdf">early marriage</a> but also because education is not always prioritised. </p>
<p>Children in rural Ethiopia are <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/environment-and-development-economics/article/environmental-resource-collection-implications-for-childrens-schooling-in-tigray-northern-ethiopia/12DB933C0414E197650F091EFC50E4AC">expected to</a> spend hours fetching water, collecting firewood or tending to livestock every day. On top of this, girls have additional household chores like cooking, cleaning and child care. These tasks affects their ability <a href="https://academic.oup.com/jae/article/20/1/90/723642">to enrol</a> and their <a href="https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:30b96517-0c60-44a4-9f65-0dff4144f22a">academic performance</a> at school. </p>
<p>Also, if parents have to ration schooling due to poverty, it’s <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Pauline_Rose4/publication/237731351_Can_gender_equality_in_education_be_attained_Evidence_from_Ethiopia/links/5484a72b0cf283750c3708f4/Can-gender-equality-in-education-be-attained-Evidence-from-Ethiopia.pdf">more likely</a> that they will send the boys because they believe it will mean the greatest return on investment. This means girls miss out on their <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02671520903350297">small window</a> of educational opportunity. </p>
<p>Many parents have <a href="https://academic.oup.com/jae/article/26/5/561/4096500">lower aspirations</a> for the higher educational and career achievements for girls than they do for boys. This is because of the <a href="https://www.odi.org/sites/odi.org.uk/files/odi-assets/publications-opinion-files/8820.pdf">stereotype</a> that girls and women are primarily home makers or assistants, while boys and men are producers and leaders. </p>
<p>Ethiopia’s women in power, may be socially removed from the girl in rural Ethiopia, but their appointment may have huge implications for their educational achievement and social empowerment. Experience <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2012/01/11/science.1212382">in India</a> show that bringing more women into leadership positions eliminated the large gender gap in education. Exposure to female leaders also led to <a href="https://academic.oup.com/qje/article-abstract/124/4/1497/1917190">change in voter attitudes</a> encouraging more women to stand for, and win, elected positions. </p>
<p>It’s possible that the recent high level appointments of women in Ethiopia may have a snowball effect with further gender balance at lower levels of government and across sectors.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/105704/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sosina Bezu does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The appointment of women into positions of power can break stereotypes and inspire girls.Sosina Bezu, Senior Researcher in Development Economics, Chr. Michelsen InstituteLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1014442018-08-27T20:11:43Z2018-08-27T20:11:43ZDrought is inevitable, Mr Joyce<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233724/original/file-20180827-75990-12btncd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Scott Morrison visiting a Queensland farm this week.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Alex Ellinghausen/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Barnaby Joyce, Australia’s new <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/drought-push-started-in-cabinet-morrison">special envoy for drought assistance and recovery</a>, will have to be careful he doesn’t do more harm than good. </p>
<p>Government funding of agriculture during a drought typically falls into three categories:</p>
<ul>
<li>subsidies for farm businesses</li>
<li>income supplements for low-income farm families</li>
<li>support for better decision-making.</li>
</ul>
<p>Unfortunately, none of these government outlays induces the much-needed rainfall. But, as this article will explain, income supplements and help with decision-making are better ways of supporting sustainable farming. Subsidies are much more problematic. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/death-of-national-drought-policy-takes-us-back-to-policy-on-the-run-23289">Death of National Drought Policy takes us back to policy on the run</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Drought as a fact of farming</h2>
<p>Farming is a known risky business. Seasonal conditions vary from drought to normal and above-average rainfall. Some are hit by floods and cyclones. Farmers also face outbreaks of pests and diseases. </p>
<p>Farm commodity prices are volatile. Farmers, and others along the food and fibre supply chains, are fully aware of volatile and uncertain seasons and markets. </p>
<p>People commit to farming if anticipated returns in the good times balance low or negative returns during droughts and other adverse conditions. This is consistent with the productive allocation of limited national labour and capital between agriculture and other sectors of the economy.</p>
<p>Farmers employ production and financial strategies to adapt to changing seasonal and market conditions. This includes smoothing over time the availability of funds for family consumption. Most farmers <a href="https://www.theland.com.au/story/5489716/pit-silage-saved-for-a-dry-day/">prepare for</a> and adjust to the ups and downs of farming, including droughts.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/to-help-drought-affected-farmers-we-need-to-support-them-in-good-times-as-well-as-bad-101184">To help drought-affected farmers, we need to support them in good times as well as bad</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>So why a new round of government handouts for another drought? Current drought relief amounts to <a href="https://www.pm.gov.au/media/immediate-relief-farming-families-takes-drought-relief-576-million">$576 million</a>, a figure that excludes concessional loans to farmers. Of course, drought conditions are tough, but they are not a surprise. They do, however, provide <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-05/federal-drought-relief-for-farmers/10074216">graphic material for the media</a>, and some families <a href="https://theconversation.com/farm-poverty-an-area-of-policy-aid-built-on-sands-of-ignorance-23756">fall into poverty</a>.</p>
<h2>Farm subsidies</h2>
<p>One general form of government drought assistance involves subsidies. These help pay for interest on loans, freight and fodder. Some have even <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/radio/sydney/programs/breakfast/farmer-economics/10060890">suggested subsidies through raising the prices of farm products</a>. </p>
<p>Drought subsidies have the effect of raising the average return from farming. They might be said to “privatise the profits of good seasons and subsidise some of the losses of droughts”. </p>
<p>Subsidies must be paid for, though, by higher taxes or lower government outlays affecting others. Artificially increasing the average returns to farming leads to a misallocation of limited national labour, capital and other resources from the rest of the economy to agriculture. The effect is much the same as the efficiency costs of tariffs protecting the car assembly industry.</p>
<p>Farm drought subsidies have important and unintended side effects. Knowing that subsidies will be provided during drought and other adverse conditions reduces the incentives for some farmers to adopt appropriate drought preparation and mitigation strategies. </p>
<p>Structural adjustment is a continuing feature of farming, as it is for all other industries. Increased costs of labour relative to capital equipment, as well as the scale bias of much farming technological change, favour the expansion of farm sizes over time. Drought subsidies work to hold up inevitable structural changes, including smart farmers who have planned for and adapted to drought buying out less successful operators.</p>
<p>Subsidies for farm outputs or inputs are a very blunt policy instrument to support farm families facing poverty. Direct household income measures, as discussed next, are more effective.</p>
<h2>Farm household income support</h2>
<p>Australia has long-established equity objectives of a minimum income and safety net for all citizens. Newstart is the policy for the unemployed, Age Pension for retirees, Disability Support Pension for the disabled, and so forth. </p>
<p>Because of poor decisions or bad luck, some farm households find themselves short of money to provide basic food, clothing, education and so forth for the family. The <a href="https://www.humanservices.gov.au/individuals/services/centrelink/farm-household-allowance">Farm Household Allowance</a> (FHA) is a means-tested (assets and income) government-funded safety net to counter poverty of farm households.</p>
<p>This allowance raises horizontal equity issues. Initially, the FHA rate was the same as for Newstart. In an <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/turnbull-defends-12-000-drought-relief-payments-to-farmers">August 5 policy announcement</a>, the government added additional lump-sum payments, described as a supplement. Arguably, the supplement can be interpreted as a form of farm subsidy.</p>
<p>Providing a minimum income support to the self-employed, including farmers but also many small-business people in other parts of the economy, has been a challenge. A key challenge is the difficulties of applying a means test. Why other small-business families experiencing a downturn in business income – including some who depend on the farm sector – are not eligible for an equivalent to the Farm Household Allowance remains an issue.</p>
<p>Government funding of <a href="https://www.pm.gov.au/media/immediate-relief-farming-families-takes-drought-relief-576-million">mental health, social and other support</a> for farmers and their families adversely affected by drought can be regarded as an important social equity instrument. These programs may also be a valuable investment in society.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/farmers-experiencing-drought-related-stress-need-targeted-support-98239">Farmers experiencing drought-related stress need targeted support</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Better farm business decision-making</h2>
<p>A number of programs to support better farm plans to manage droughts are funded. This includes the provision of meteorological and other data on seasonal conditions to guide decisions. </p>
<p>Hands-on education and support to individual farmers in developing more appropriate decision strategies and plans are also available. This adds to a more robust and self-sufficient farming sector.</p>
<p>To summarise, government funding for farm household incomes to avoid poverty and to improve farm decision-making make sense. Subsidies for farm inputs or outputs have undesirable longer-term resource misallocation effects, and are relatively blunt income-support measures.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/is-australias-current-drought-caused-by-climate-change-its-complicated-97867">Is Australia's current drought caused by climate change? It's complicated</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/101444/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Freebairn does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Having an envoy for drought and a prime minister keen to visit drought-affected areas puts the government under pressure to do the wrong thing.John Freebairn, Professor, Department of Economics, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/997652018-08-01T13:22:24Z2018-08-01T13:22:24ZWhat’s driving persistent poverty in rural Kenya<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/228831/original/file-20180723-189323-1vx15py.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In 2016, about 16 million people in Kenya couldn't afford to meet their basic needs -- which include food and shelter.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Like most of Sub Saharan African countries, Kenya has registered <a href="https://www.knbs.or.ke/download/highlights-201516-kenya-integrated-household-budget-survey-kihbs-reports/">a decline in the poverty rate</a> over the past decade. The absolute poverty rate declined from 46% in 2006 to 36% in 2016. But despite this impressive decline, the number of people living in poverty remains unchanged and considerably large mainly as a result of population growth which increased by 10 million or 28% over the same period. </p>
<p>From a population of 45.4 million in 2016, about 16 million people in Kenya couldn’t afford to meet their <a href="http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTPA/Resources/429966-1259774805724/Poverty_Inequality_Handbook_Ch03.pdf">basic needs</a>, which includes food, non-food needs such as clothing and shelter. About 14 million couldn’t meet their daily food requirements, while 4 million couldn’t buy food enough to meet their daily calorie intake even if they allocated their entire income to purchase food. </p>
<p>These statistics suggest that the fight against poverty is far from being won. Understanding why so many people stay in poverty is an important first step to alleviating it.</p>
<p>In <a href="http://www.chronicpovertynetwork.org/resources/2018/6/13/resilience-and-sustainable-poverty-escapes-in-rural-kenya-country-report">a major study</a> into poverty in rural Kenya, we sought to understand what drove poverty and why it remains endemic. The focus of the report was to look at why some households escape poverty – and stay out of it – while others escape poverty only to fall back into it, and why some descend into poverty for the first time. </p>
<p>The report looked at the three main factors that enable households to escape poverty sustainably and minimise the likelihood of returning to living in poverty again. These are resources, such as land, livestock, and assets; attributes such as household composition and education level; and activities, which include jobs and engagement in non-farm activities.</p>
<p>Between 2000 and 2010, we found that 50% of households in rural Kenya who were poor in 2000 managed to escape poverty in successive years. However, only 11% managed to sustain the escape with 39% falling back into poverty by 2010. </p>
<p>The question we tried to address in the report was: What is the best solution package to sustain poverty escapes for people living in rural areas?</p>
<h2>Why rural people remain poor</h2>
<p>Traditionally, <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/539712a6e4b06a6c9b892bc1/t/53972717e4b0c0c13081cb36/1402414871139/Challenge+Paper+2+web.pdf">agriculture has been seen as the best option to help</a> rural households out of poverty. But the sector faces a number of challenges that diminish its influence in lifting households out of poverty. </p>
<p>First, land subdivisions have progressively left rural households with less land for agriculture compared to previous decades. In fact, extremely poor households have land that is just enough for settlement plus minimal agriculture. </p>
<p>Land markets in rural areas have also not been developed, possibly due to the insecurity of land tenure. As such, leasing of land for agriculture has not been meaningful as smallholder farmers only access season to season leases. </p>
<p>Additionally, agriculture now suffers from climatic shocks, disease and pest prevalence, declining soil quality, volatile agricultural markets, and low investment by both the public and private sector actors in agriculture. These shocks expose households that cultivate more land to production and market shocks. For households that rely heavily on agriculture, successive shocks could increase vulnerability to poverty.</p>
<p>Off-farm income, either from salary, wage, business income, or remittances, is increasingly becoming important to rural households. In 2000, off-farm income accounted for 42% of total household income compared to 55% in 2010. However, the ability of a household to generate significant off-farm income is constrained by capital and skills available to the household as well as non-farm opportunities accessible in rural areas. </p>
<p>In addition, high levels of formal schooling, such as tertiary education, increases the likelihood of migration to large cities. Poor households rely more on off-farm income although they make significantly less for similar activities when compared to non-poor or households that have sustained escapes from poverty. </p>
<h2>Household shocks</h2>
<p>Another factor that raises vulnerability to poverty is household shocks. These can include severe illness or death of the primary income earner in a household and loss of household assets through theft or calamity.</p>
<p>Although the country has had a national health insurance scheme providing universal health coverage since 2008, <a href="http://www.chronicpovertynetwork.org/resources/2018/6/13/resilience-and-sustainable-poverty-escapes-in-rural-kenya-country-report">its uptake is very low among non-salaried people</a> living in rural areas. </p>
<p>Medical expenses were cited as a key cause for impoverishment among households, through loss of income or sale of assets to settle bills. Death or incapacitation of male income earners also increases vulnerability for the household. There are cases where surviving spouse and children have been disenfranchised from inheriting land or property of the deceased male head. Households were also likely to fall back into poverty due to loss of assets or property through theft. </p>
<p>Some households reported a loss of harvest or stock through robbery. Without insurance, such households have to start all over but without capital.</p>
<h2>What can be done</h2>
<p>There is need to develop the rural non-farm sector around agriculture. Gains have already been made in rural electrification, access to financial services, and enhanced connectivity through mobile phones. There is need to focus on skill development through technical training to take up opportunities in value addition, agro-processing and other rural non-farm sector opportunities. </p>
<p>Lastly, there is need to enhance social protection such as by promoting the uptake of national health insurance coverage and upholding the rule of law. Increasing ease of access and flexible payment of premiums can motivate those who consider the transaction cost of taking health insurance to be high. Services such as those provided by the police and justice system should be a necessary deterrent to protect property. Working with the community to enforce law and order, where perpetrators get deserved punishment, will build confidence in the system and allow victims to seek redress.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/99765/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Timothy Njagi Njeru does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Statistics suggest that the fight against poverty is far from being won in Kenya.Timothy Njagi Njeru, Research Fellow, Tegemeo Institute, Egerton UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/968522018-05-22T19:37:57Z2018-05-22T19:37:57ZForcing immigrants to work in regional areas will not boost regional economies in the long run<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/219691/original/file-20180521-42203-1wj5w6o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In the short-run, the targeted migration program boosts workers in the target region.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bread for the World/Flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/mar/04/housing-report-says-migration-may-need-to-be-cut-to-preserve-quality-of-life">politicians raise concerns</a> about immigration straining infrastructure and public services in Australia’s state capitals, the federal government is considering the idea of binding immigrants to particular regional and rural areas.</p>
<p>The minister for citizenship and multicultural affairs, Alan Tudge, <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/government-considers-forcing-regional-migrants-to-stay-rural">was quoted as saying</a>:</p>
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<p>We’re looking at ways that we can effectively bind people to the regions if they’ve got a sponsorship to go to those locations. </p>
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<p>The idea behind these sorts of policies is also to develop regional and rural economies. But in <a href="https://www.gtap.agecon.purdue.edu/resources/download/7469.pdf">recent research</a> with co-authors Louise Roos and John Madden, we find that binding migrants on temporary 457 visas to the country is largely ineffective in boosting regional economies in the long run.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/countries-must-compete-for-migrant-workers-to-boost-their-economies-96231">Countries must compete for migrant workers to boost their economies</a>
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<p>The <a href="https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/trav/visa-1/457-">457 visa program</a> (replaced in April 2017 with a stricter but essentially similar <a href="https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/trav/visa-1/482-">temporary skill shortage visa</a>) allowed employers to bring in foreign skilled workers for up to four years. While employers in any location can apply, the program can be used to direct migrants to non-urban areas, because visa holders are bound to the employers and their locations. </p>
<p>As part of our research, we modelled two scenarios. In the first we looked at what happens with regionally targeted 457 visas, by assigning workers on these visas to non-metropolitan regions. In the second we modelled what would happen if the visa holders were to settle across regions according to their current settlement patterns. </p>
<p>We took into account the labour market and visa details of workers in each capital city and in the rest of each state or territory (except for the ACT, which we treated as one territory). We also factored in the desire of workers to change occupations and regions due to movements in wages. </p>
<p>At the national level, we found that employment and real GDP increase by nearly identical amounts and, likewise, decreases in national wages are the same under programs where immigrants are targeted to rural and regional areas and where they haven’t been targeted. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-jobs-and-migration-policies-are-not-making-the-best-use-of-qualified-migrants-90944">Australia's jobs and migration policies are not making the best use of qualified migrants</a>
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<p>At the regional level, in the short run, we found targeted visa programs boost regional activity. But this does not hold in the long run. After five to 10 years, economic variables such as real regional GDP and regional employment start to look the same as the untargeted scenario. </p>
<p>The reason for this largely lies in the regional displacement of workers already in the country. In the short run, the targeted migration program boosts workers in the target region. This causes wages in the region to fall relative to wages in other regions. This discourages workers from other regions from moving to the region, and encourages workers in the region to leave. </p>
<p>We have also examined what would happen with permanent skilled migration programs targeted at regional and rural areas.</p>
<p>There are a number of permanent regional skilled migration programs, such as the <a href="https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/trav/visa-1/187-">Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme</a>, the <a href="https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/trav/visa-1/190-">skilled nominated visa</a> and the <a href="https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/trav/visa-1/489-">skilled regional visa</a>. In these schemes visa holders can remain in the country indefinitely, although they must remain in their nominated region for at least two years. This is in contrast to temporary visa holders, who must eventually depart Australia unless, as many do, they transition to a permanent visa. </p>
<p>In investigating targeted permanent visas, we found similar results to temporary visas. The short-run employment and regional GDP gains from regionally targeted migration programs, whether under permanent or temporary visa arrangements, gradually become like those of untargeted programs. </p>
<p>Over time, <a href="https://www.gtap.agecon.purdue.edu/resources/download/7469.pdf">new immigrants move to other regions</a>, mostly to capital cities, or go overseas. Even if implementable and effective policies could be found to bind new immigrants to regions, the displacement effect we’ve outlined would continue to weaken the long-run impact on regional populations and economies.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/96852/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Even if policies could be found to bind new immigrants to regional areas, workers’ movements would continue to weaken the long-run impact on regional populations and economies.James Giesecke, Professor, Centre of Policy Studies and the Impact Project, Victoria UniversityNhi Tran, Senior Research Fellow, Victoria UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/746102017-07-11T06:31:02Z2017-07-11T06:31:02ZUniversal basic income could work in Southeast Asia — but only if it goes to women<p>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/universal-basic-income-is-it-really-what-todays-youth-need-72979">universal basic income</a> debate has been raging for some years, with politicians and people hotly divided over the notion of their government paying every citizen a set amount of money on a regular basis, without requiring work to be completed.</p>
<p>The idea of everybody, including society’s most marginalised, being able to afford their basic needs is <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/basic-income-pilots-scotland-ubi-glasgow-finland-canada-ontario-switzerland-referendum-refuses-to-a7505561.html">popular with mostly libertarian and progressive politicians</a>, and there is some empirical evidence that it can quickly <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jan/12/universal-basic-income-finland-uk">increase a country’s productivity and reduce domestic inequality</a>. </p>
<p>Conservative economists, however, reject the idea, <a href="http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/universal-basic-income-good-idea/">citing its “impossibly expensive” nature</a>. </p>
<p>Economic feasibility is a critical question for any government program, of course, and it is particularly relevant in the developing world, where universal basic income (UBI) has been suggested as a development tool. </p>
<p>One reason that Southeast Asian countries, for example, have <a href="http://asiasociety.org/education/women-southeast-asia">struggled to improve gender equality (despite avowals of committment to the idea</a>) is increased economic insecurity, which has widened the gap between men and women and separated women from opportunities. </p>
<p>Might UBI be one way to both empower women and reduce hunger in the region? </p>
<h2>Money in the hands of women</h2>
<p>My research focuses specifically on women from the region who live below the poverty line, which, for East Asia and the Pacific, the World Bank defines as living on less than <a href="http://povertydata.worldbank.org/poverty/region/EAP">US$3.20 a day</a>. </p>
<p>In Cambodia, Laos, the Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam – among the poorest Southeast Asian nations – between <a href="http://povertydata.worldbank.org/poverty/region/EAP">13% and 47% of the population</a> is living in poverty. The number is significantly lower in better-off Brunei and Singapore.</p>
<p>On the whole, women in these countries fare well enough <a href="http://asiasociety.org/education/women-southeast-asia">compared to their peers in other developing regions</a> in terms of literacy, employment, political participation and the right to organise. But this has not translated into greater gender equality. </p>
<p>Here, <a href="https://www.academia.edu/7724345/Social-Political_Movements_Homosexuality_and_Queer_Identity_Movements_Southeast_Asia">heteronormativity</a> reigns, dictating that men and women (and only men and women; all other gender identities are discounted) have distinct and complementary roles in life, from economics and education to politics. </p>
<p>Women are primarily seen as wives and mothers, a gender stereotype reinforced in both everyday experiences and <a href="http://asiasociety.org/education/women-southeast-asia">in the theological texts</a> of the main religions in the region. </p>
<p>That perspective also seems to dominate within <a href="http://asean.org/">the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations</a> (ASEAN). Though women feature strongly in ASEAN’s <a href="http://asean.org/storage/2016/01/ASCC-Blueprint-2025.pdf">socio-cultural community</a> line of work, there is very little debate about the role of women in the <a href="http://asean.org/wp-content/uploads/archive/5187-10.pdf">economic</a> or <a href="http://asean.org/wp-content/uploads/images/archive/5187-18.pdf">political</a> sphere. </p>
<p>By giving women the financial freedom to act as “agents” of development in the region, universal basic income could be a tool that ultimately paves the way for their future economic and political involvement. </p>
<h2>Women as agents of development</h2>
<p>This process would start with something simple (and seemingly uncontroversial): women being able to put food on the table.</p>
<p>In poor families in Southeast Asia, up to <a href="http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/12660/icode/">80% of household income</a> is spent on food, yet
<a href="http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=53554#.WV5_qtPyulM">undernutrition</a> remains a huge problem in Cambodia, Laos, the Philippines, Indonesia and, to a lesser extent, in Vietnam. </p>
<p>If women were provided with sufficient income to feed their families, it would translate into <a href="http://www.womensworldbanking.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/CaseForSupportWomensWorldBanking.pdf">better nutrition, health and general well-being for children and others entrusted in their care</a>, and by extension, their communities. </p>
<p>Creating economic security for women is also key to a country’s development. Southeast Asian women in poorer income brackets generally have access to very few jobs, outside of traditional occupations such as farming and housekeeping. And, today, even these jobs are threatened by climate change and a growing movement to <a href="http://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/indonesias-dilemma-over-foreign-domestic-workers">ban the export of foreign domestic workers</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/how-3d-printing-could-disrupt-asias-manufacturing-economies-69633">Digitisation</a> may lead to further unemployment among men, particularly in Southeast Asian manufacturing economies, exacerbating hunger and malnutrition. </p>
<p>There is evidence that giving women a specifically calibrated amount of money – regularly, and with no strings attached – could make a big difference in such settings.</p>
<p>After the NGO GiveDirectly first started its UBI program in a Kenyan village in 2016, it offered some residents US$22 a month The entire community quickly saw positive effects, according to a February 2017 assessment of the program in the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/23/magazine/universal-income-global-inequality.html?r=0">New York Times</a>. And residents hope that the experiment, which is scheduled to last for 12 years, will gradually lift them out of poverty. </p>
<h2>UBI in Southeast Asia</h2>
<p>Tacked onto the state’s existing social safety nets, UBI can give much needed specific attention to women’s broader economic empowerment, which is vital to a developing country’s growth. </p>
<p>The first step toward doing so in Southeast Asia would be to identify women living below the poverty line. Next, as in Kenya, each of these woman would be given <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/01/why-we-should-all-have-a-basic-income/">a sum of money in the form of electronic cash transfers</a>. </p>
<p>Accessible through cheap mobile phones, this money can be used to purchase food and other basic necessities in participating shops, which may be incentivised to participate with credits or subsidies of their own.</p>
<p>To prevent abuse of a program intended to empower women and support families, the cash transfers must be either non-transferrable or transferrable only to another female family member, and only women will be able to spend the money (in approved shops).</p>
<p>Evidence from other countries suggests that, in some cases, men <a href="https://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2017/01/31/india-considers-fighting-poverty-with-a-universal-basic-income/">waste</a> this “free pay” on alcohol, gambling and other non-essentials.</p>
<p>Programs must also be designed to be cognisant that, when women in traditional societies are <a href="http://www.unfpa.org/resources/issue-7-women-empowerment">empowered</a>, violence against them may increase, as men see women with money as a threat to their role in family and society. </p>
<p>Finally, women must be able to “graduate” from a UBI scheme. The idea is to empower participants, giving women a leg up to become active members of society – not to incapacitate them. </p>
<p>In the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/23/magazine/universal-income-global-inequality.html?_r=0">Kenyan case</a>, for example, many women (and men, too) used the allocated income to start small businesses. This opportunity could be developed as part of a potential UBI in Southeast Asia, considering both public- and private-sector partnerships. </p>
<p>If a universal basic income program really works, then women may even become contributors to programs in the future, and not just their beneficiaries.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/74610/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tamara Nair does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It could make women agents of change and development in Southeast Asia.Tamara Nair, Research Fellow in Non-Traditional Security Studies at RSIS, Nanyang Technological UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/763862017-06-14T02:23:14Z2017-06-14T02:23:14ZWhy the South still has such high HIV rates<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/173223/original/file-20170609-21746-brl9rp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Reggie Batiste with the AIDS Healthcare Foundation in Atlanta administers an HIV test. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/HIV-Testing/49ef4306d3894f2b85b274926dc265a3/89/0">David Goldman/AP</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Increased funding, targeted prevention efforts and better treatment have helped to slow down the HIV epidemic in the United States. The number of new HIV-positive cases has <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/statistics/overview/ataglance.html">decreased</a> significantly, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), with the number of new HIV diagnoses declining by 19 percent from 2005 to 2014.</p>
<p>This is not the case in many parts of the country, however. As AIDS and public health researchers, we are among those who are alarmed by areas in the southern United States where the numbers of cases have not declined and even more by the areas in which increases have occurred.</p>
<p>In particular, we have seen some disturbing trends in Prince George’s County, Maryland, where we do research on AIDS and health disparities. These are similar to trends in other nonurban settings in the southern United States where a majority of African-Americans live.</p>
<h2>Southern nonurban black communities in crisis</h2>
<p>In Prince George’s County, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, D.C., the number of new HIV infections has <a href="https://phpa.health.maryland.gov/OIDEOR/CHSE/Pages/statistics.aspx">increased</a> from 2014 to 2015, according to the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. In fact, Prince George’s County leads the state in the number of new HIV diagnoses, having surpassed Baltimore City in 2013. </p>
<p>With rates that are 20 times higher than those of whites in 2015, African-Americans are disproportionately impacted by HIV in Prince George’s County. In 2015, African-Americans constituted 86 percent of all <a href="https://phpa.health.maryland.gov/OIDEOR/CHSE/Pages/statistics.aspx">new</a> HIV diagnoses and 85 percent of the total population living with HIV. </p>
<p>Moreover, engagement in HIV care remains at critically low levels among those living in Prince George’s County. Only 49 percent of people living with HIV are retained in care and 37 percent have achieved viral suppression, when a person’s HIV viral load is undetectable or is very low, considerably reducing the risk of transmission.</p>
<p>This public health crisis in Prince George’s County reflects a much broader trend in the United States, where the disproportionate burden of HIV is increasingly found in the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/statistics/overview/geographicdistribution.html">U.S. South</a>, including Washington, D.C., Maryland, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. In many areas, HIV is concentrated in urban areas. </p>
<p>But in the South, larger proportions of those diagnosed with HIV are living in <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/southern-states-are-now-epicenter-of-hivaids-in-the-us/2014/09/22/9ac1525a-39e6-11e4-9c9f-ebb47272e40e_story.html?utm_term=.83ff8ef5791d">smaller metropolitan, suburban and rural areas</a> – places like Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Jackson, Mississippi; Memphis, Tennessee; Columbia, South Carolina; and Lowndes County, Alabama.</p>
<p>Southern states have the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/statistics/overview/geographicdistribution.html">highest rates</a> of new HIV-positive diagnoses, the highest percentage of people living with HIV and the lowest rates of survival for those who are HIV-positive. Nearly <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/pdf/library/reports/surveillance/cdc-hiv-surveillance-report-2015-vol-27.pdf">52 percent</a> of all new diagnoses of HIV in 2015 occurred in southern states, even though only 37 percent of the U.S. population lives in the South.</p>
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<p>The vast <a href="https://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/2010_census/cb11-cn185.html">majority</a> of African-Americans live in the South, and they are the <a href="http://www.kff.org/hivaids/fact-sheet/black-americans-and-hivaids-the-basics/">hardest hit</a> by the HIV epidemic in the region. </p>
<p>In 2015, African-Americans accounted for 45 percent of HIV diagnoses in the United States overall, though they comprise 13 percent of the total population. But in the South, this percentage is much higher, with African-Americans accounting for 54 percent of new HIV diagnoses in 2014.</p>
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<p>Black men who have sex with men have a disproportionate burden of disease, accounting for <a href="https://www.seaetc.com/cdc-hiv-in-the-south-issue-brief/">59 percent</a> of all HIV diagnoses among African-Americans in the South. Black women also face an unequal burden, comprising <a href="https://www.seaetc.com/cdc-hiv-in-the-south-issue-brief/">69 percent</a> of all HIV diagnoses among women in the South. Black transgender communities in the South are also <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/group/gender/transgender/index.html">heavily impacted</a>. Half of all transgender persons who are diagnosed with HIV are black. Around half of transgender people who received an HIV diagnosis between 2009-2014 lived in the South.</p>
<h2>Root causes of the enduring HIV epidemic in the South</h2>
<p>The South suffers from disproportionate rates of <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/research/u-s-concentrated-poverty-in-the-wake-of-the-great-recession/">concentrated poverty</a> – the clustering of poor populations in very poor communities – that increasingly exists in smaller cities, suburban areas and rural counties. </p>
<p>In 2010, 41 percent of poor Americans lived in the South, according to the <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/01/13/whos-poor-in-america-50-years-into-the-war-on-poverty-a-data-portrait/">Pew Research Center</a>. Research has shown that in these areas of concentrated poverty, poor families are saddled with additional burdens, beyond what the families’ own individual circumstances would dictate, including inadequate access to quality health care and poor health outcomes.</p>
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<p><a href="https://www.guttmacher.org/state-policy/explore/sex-and-hiv-education">Abstinence-based sex education</a> and <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2010/11/26/southern-exposure">criminalization</a> of HIV-related risk behaviors, rooted in perceptions that HIV is associated with immoral and deviant behavior, has resulted in increased stigma and discrimination toward those living with HIV in the South. This can lead to people being afraid to get tested or seek treatment for fear that someone may find out they have HIV.</p>
<p>Stigma and discrimination are also found in many middle-class and wealthy African-American communities in the South, like those in <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28418279">Prince George’s County</a>, where <a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2015/10/22/450821244/where-does-the-pull-up-your-pants-school-of-black-politics-come-from">black respectability politics</a> – the notion that by adopting certain cultural norms of the white mainstream, black people can protect themselves from discrimination – has contributed to a silencing of the HIV epidemic among the African-American poor and the blaming of victims for their illness.</p>
<p>Finally, health care and funding disparities have long plagued the South and have contributed to the rising rates of HIV in the region. Federal government funding still <a href="http://globalhealth.duke.edu/media/news/cdc-hiv-prevention-funding-fails-keep-pace-us-souths-hiv-epidemic">lags</a> behind for southern states. For example, 33 percent of federal funding was distributed to the South, despite the region having 52 percent of all new HIV diagnoses in the country. </p>
<p>The CDC has <a href="https://www.hiv.gov/blog/with-new-data-states-can-better-focus-hiv-prevention-for-gay-bisexual-and-other-men-who-have-sex-with-men">increased funding</a> to the South to directly reflect the impact of HIV in the region, with an increase of 22 percent or US$36 million from 2010 to 2015. However, many community-based organizations doing frontline HIV prevention work are <a href="http://globalhealth.duke.edu/media/news/cdc-hiv-prevention-funding-fails-keep-pace-us-souths-hiv-epidemic">ineligible</a> for funding because they are not located within major metropolitan centers. The most recent CDC <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/funding/announcements/ps15-1502/">funding announcement</a> for community-based organizations, for instance, focuses on people at high risk of contracting HIV only in metropolitan areas hit hardest by HIV and AIDS.</p>
<p>Additionally, southern states also have some of the strictest eligibility requirements and least expansive Medicaid programs. Many southern states <a href="http://www.ncsl.org/research/health/affordable-care-act-expansion.aspx">rejected</a> Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act, which extended health care to millions of uninsured Americans. Such health care policies, along with poor health care infrastructure, lack of qualified health professionals and geographic isolation, have resulted in substandard or nonexistent health services and treatment for those most in need. </p>
<p>The proposed American Health Care Act will further <a href="http://kff.org/hivaids/issue-brief/what-is-at-stake-in-aca-repeal-and-replace-for-people-with-hiv/">limit</a> the expansion of Medicaid, which would disproportionately affect the poor and may not provide insurance for those with preexisting conditions, including HIV.</p>
<p>Transformative actions need to occur in order to make a positive impact on the devastating effects HIV has had among African-Americans in the South. Funding needs to be reallocated to the region, especially to frontline providers and organizations doing HIV prevention work. Political pressure to expand Medicaid and to increase funding for HIV prevention and treatment is necessary to stem the tide of the epidemic. </p>
<p>People should advocate to change laws and policies, particularly around sex education and criminalization of HIV-related behaviors. Increasing opportunities for employment, housing and education can also improve HIV prevention in the South. </p>
<p>In order to make progress, southern states must make difficult structural changes such as increasing funding, health care access and treatment. They also need to directly confront the inadequate living and working conditions that put poor African-American youth and adults at heightened risk for HIV.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/76386/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thurka Sangaramoorthy does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond the academic appointment above.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joseph B. Richardson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The number of new HIV-positive cases has sharply declined – in most parts of the country. Nonurban areas, particularly in the South, are showing sharp increases. Why?Thurka Sangaramoorthy, Professor of Anthropology, University of MarylandJoseph B. Richardson, Professor of African American studies, University of MarylandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.