Lecture two

Sudanese, Rural Settlement, characteristics and problems

A rural settlement is any settlement in the areas defined as rural by a governmental office, e.g., by the national census bureau. This may include settlement of different size.

Rural settlements in Sudan are usually clustered along watercourses, because of water supply problems especially during the dry months.

In the north, villages are often constructed along the rivers

Typical homesteads in a village, is small in size, scattered, with low standard of basic services.

They lack essential services and poor road access especially during the rainy season.

The majority of the housing units are without electricity and water supply and they have no drainage systems.

The majority of the houses in village are made of wood, mud and chaff (straw and grass).

Few houses are built with mud bricks and mud mortar and plastered with animal dung. Most structures are made of one floor.

Situation of rural Sudanese women.

Sudanese women in rural areas like other women in developing countries face many difficulties that characterized their livelihood.

Women represent 49% of the farmers in the irrigated sector and 57% in the rainfed traditional sector

Women in the rainfed sector are primarily subsistence farmers but they also work as seasonal wage labourers in the rain fed mechanized sector, and as hired or unpaid family labourers in the irrigated sector

Although women play a crucial role in agriculture, contributing to both the GDP and to household food security, their contribution to agriculture and the overall economic development process continues to be undervalued

As result of male migration and war the majority of women become head of the household reached up to 23 percent in the Blue Nile State.

Problems facing rural women in Sudan:

Poverty ( specially female headed household)

Low literacyWork load: Women carry bundles of

firewood on their heads can take several hours each day to collect enough wood and fetch water

Limited access to financial source (lack of the collateral needed for credit)

Women have equal access to land use, very few have land ownership rights,

Rural Development Related Concepts

PovertyFood securityMillennium Development Goals MDGs

Poverty

Condition where people's basic needs for food, clothing, and shelter are not being met. Poverty is generally of two types:

Absolute poverty

Absolute poverty is synonymous with destitution and occurs when people cannot obtain adequate resources (measured in terms of calories or nutrition) to support a minimum level of physical health. Absolute poverty means about the same everywhere, and can be eradicated as demonstrated by some countries

Relative poverty

Relative poverty is defined contextually as economic inequality in the location or society in which people live. Relative poverty occurs everywhere, is said to be increasing, and may never be eradicated.

Poverty reduction is a major goal and issue for many international organizations such as the United Nations and the World Bank. The World Bank estimated 1.29 billion people were living in absolute poverty in 2008.of these, about 400 million people in absolute poverty lived in India and 173 million people in China

In USA 1 in 5 children lives in poverty. In terms of percentage of regional populations, sub-Saharan Africa at 47% had the highest incidence rate of absolute poverty in 2008. Between 1990 and 2010, about 663 million people moved above the absolute poverty level

Still, extreme poverty is a global challenge; it is observed in all parts of the world, including the developed economies

. Who Are the Rural Poor and why are they Poor?

Rural poverty in developing countries is driven by a combination of macro- and household-level factors.

At the macro level the limited availability of good arable land and of water, and the impact of drought , floods, and conflicts continue to have a major impact on the livelihoods of the rural population

Furthermore, the central-planning model adopted by many countries in the post-independence period has left a legacy of misallocated resources, inefficient use of existing factors of production and disincentives to invest in the agricultural sector, all of which have contributed to the poor productivity and performance of the rural economy.

Poor public investments in physical infrastructure and social services in the rural areas, combined with the geographic isolation of many such areas, have further marginalized the rural poor.

In general, the rural population, especially the landless, the agricultural workers and women, have very little political influence, are poorly organized and are often not reached by social safety nets food security and poverty alleviation programs

Rural poverty in the Sudan

Poverty in the Sudan is deeply -rooted and is largely rural. Poverty particularly affects farmers who practice rain fed agriculture. It is more widespread and deeper in rural areas and in areas affected by conflict, drought and famine

The incidence of poverty varies considerably according to region, in part because economic growth has been unequally distributed, but also because of the economic and social damage caused by the conflict in certain parts of the country.

There are severe inequalities in terms of access to education, sanitation, clean water, infrastructure; natural resources, income opportunities, justice and political protection

Who and where are the Sudan's rural poor people?

In general, small-scale farmers and herders in the traditional rain fed farming and livestock sectors are poorer than those in the irrigated agricultural sector. And people who do not have land to farm work as seasonal labors in mechanized farming scheme.

People living in areas that have been or continue to be affected by drought and conflict – particularly in the Blue Nile and South Kordfan and Darfur - are the most vulnerable to poverty.

Isolation is one of the key factors affecting poverty. Settlements located away from main thoroughfares have little or no access to social services and markets. Within rural communities, households without assets and labor power are the poorest.

Food Security

Food security refers to the availability of food and one's access to it. A household is considered food-secure when its occupants do not live in hunger or fear of starvation

The World Food Summit of 1996 defined food security as existing “when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life)

This definition is based on four dimensions:

the availability of sufficient quantities of food of appropriate quality; access by individuals to adequate resources for acquiring appropriate foods for a nutritious diet;

utilization of food through adequate diet, clean water, sanitation and healthcare to reach a state of nutritional well-being where all physiological needs are met;

and the ability of populations, households and individuals to have access to adequate food at all times.

Households are food secure when they have year-round access to the amount and variety of safe foods their members need to lead active and healthy lives.

At the household level, food security refers to the ability of the household to secure, either from its own production or through purchases, adequate food for meeting the dietary needs of all members of the household.

The nutritional status of each member of the household depends on several conditions being met: the food available to the household must be shared according to individual needs; the food must be of sufficient variety, quality and safety; and each family member must have good health status in order to benefit from the food consumed

A household is said to be food secured “if it can reliably gain access to food in sufficient quantity and quality for all household members to enjoy a healthy and active life. It is possible, however, for individuals in food-secure households to have deficient or unbalanced diets. Thus, malnutrition occurs when an individual’s diet does not provide adequate calories and protein for growth and maintenance, or if they are unable to fully utilize the food they eat due to illness

Malnutrition

Nutrition security, a relatively newer concept is said to be achieved when secure access to food is coupled with a sanitary environment, adequate health services and knowledgeable care to ensure a healthy and active life for all household members.

Currently, millions of people across the globe suffer from under-nutrition and hunger.

In 2007, the UN (United Nations) estimated that there are approximately 850 million people who suffer undernourishment in the world today.

It also reported that 799 million undernourished people live in developing countries, most of which are on the African and Asian continents. Reportedly, the major contribution to this international issue has been food insecurity (FAO, 2008, p.18).

Causes of food insecurity and malnutrition in Africa

The causes of food insecurity and malnutrition in Africa are diverse, multi-factorial and interlinked. Poverty and food shortage are the main catalysts of food insecurity

Poverty also constrains the ability of farming households to invest in productive assets and agricultural technologies, resulting in insufficient agricultural productivity.

In addition, African importers are unable to profitably bring in the food needed to make up national food deficits, simply because poverty is so great that insufficient demand is expressed through the market system

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