The resolution convening the World Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development which was held in Rome on July 12–20, 1979 called for a "frontal attack on poverty... by a deliberate policy of integrated rural development". The aims and implications of the concept of integrated rural...

Government intervention in developing countries has often been biased towards the support of urban industries and the urban population. The resulting distortions in exchange rates and in the prices of the factors of production have had serious detrimental effects on rural areas. A gradual...

The emphasis of development policies has for many years been placed on primarily growth-oriented development strategies. Although the latter have indeed induced an astounding increase in real GNP levels in Third World countries, they have not been able to decisively reduce existing social...

Bangladesh is handicapped by very unfavourable natural conditions, inter alia extreme floods and droughts, an unfavourable pattern of farm sizes and the consequences of rising oil prices. For these reasons agricultural production lagged behind the planned targets in the first two years of the...

The Ivory Coast has been the scene of a remarkable economic upsurge since it gained independence in 1960. Agriculture and forestry have been the mainstay of growth. The evolvement of socio-economic structures in the rural areas is outlined in the following article which also discusses aspects of...

In September 1973, the President of the World Bank, Robert S. McNamara, made a challenging address to the Governors of the Central Banks of the member states of the international Monetary Fund. The main subject in his speech was the problem of poverty particularly in rural areas of developing...

The United Nations Committee for Development Planning (CDP) in its annual report has attempted to formulate a development strategy for the 1990s. We have asked Udo E. Simonis, a member of the CDP, to summarize the main findings and recommendations of that report.