Access to Rural Non-Farm Livelihoods - Natural Resources Institute

pushed some towards forming groups and engaging in more farm and non-farm IGAs than in
the past.
In general, those able to take advantage of the increased opportunities in the non-farm
economy tend to have had some initial social or economic advantage, such as a salaried job,
or connections with important and/or well informed people giving them improved access to
information or NGO support, or being born into a family with a tradition of craftsmanship,
and also tend to have had a good farming base which supported their subsequent
diversification. Such people were also perceived to have the “confidence” necessary to attract
credit, while for others, lack of this “confidence” was cited as a barrier – past credit schemes
were generally felt to have improved the lot of the better off only.
Barriers to others in accessing profitable non-farm IGAs include poverty in its most basic
sense, relating to lack of start up capital, but also to continued under-capitalisation of small
business and their failure to expand or even persist as proceeds are used to cover basic
household needs instead of being reinvested or used to access better markets. Some of these
barriers can be overcome by working in groups, but these of necessity exclude the poorest,
who are usually unable to meet the investment/membership criteria. General poverty also
leads to low levels of consumption and limited local markets which are subject to marked
seasonal fluctuations, constraining the profitability of many enterprises. It is also a part of the
problems customers have in repaying credit, or in groups being able to operate successfully.
Reproductive labour demands constrain women’s abilities to participate in other activities of
all kinds. Traditions of no or weak property rights in the area are also barriers to women’s
participation in IGAs as they lack a place in which to undertake them. However, women have
been targeted by both NGO and government development programmes with some successes,
although many of the “women’s” groups encountered included male members, often with
important roles, or were set up at the instigation of a man specifically to access NGO support
or credit.
Old age and failing strength and health were cited as barriers to continuing with any
economic activity, but young adults in their late teens and twenties also appear to be less
involved in non-farm IGAs than adults in their middle years, perhaps as a result of this
generation’s lower levels of education, or because young families are concentrating on
establishing a good farming base.
Good secondary level education is a prerequisite to getting a good salaried government or
NGO job, which then facilitates entry into other areas of the economy, but beyond this the
pattern is less clear, with examples of successful shopkeepers and traders with no formal
education at all, and well educated people struggling or failing in non-farm IGAs. However
most people place considerable importance on education for their children. Lack of skills was
perceived to be a problem by educated and trained extension workers, but not by members of
the community themselves.
48