Resource information
A rather unique panel tracking more than
3,300 individuals from households in rural Kagera, Tanzania
during 1991/4-2010 shows that about one in two
individuals/households who exited poverty did so by
transitioning from agriculture into the rural nonfarm
economy or secondary towns. Only one in seven exited poverty
by migrating to a large city, although those moving to a
city experienced on average faster consumption growth.
Further analysis of a much larger cross-country panel of 51
developing countries cannot reject that rural
diversification and secondary town development lead to more
inclusive growth patterns than metropolitization.
Indications are that this follows because more of the poor
find their way to the rural nonfarm economy and secondary
towns, than to distant cities. The development discourse
would benefit from shifting beyond the rural-urban dichotomy
and focusing instead more on how best to urbanize and
develop the rural nonfarm economy and secondary towns.
