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The international journal Rural 21 has dedicated more than 40 years to all topics surrounding rural development. Its ambition is to further those strategies and policies that strengthen rural areas of developing and newly industrialising countries and encourage their implementation. The journal addresses the complete range of relevant themes – from agriculture and fisheries via capacity building and education through to health and social security, energy supply and trade. Center-stage is always devoted to inquiring into how measures and strategies can contribute to global food security and to reducing poverty.
Rural 21 desires to further the dialogue between science and politics, the private sector, civil society and practitioners. Two platforms are designed for this purpose: Rural 21 in print is published four times a year, each issue highlighting a specific focus of rural development – this print edition is read in more than 150 countries. In parallel, Rural 21 online keeps the rural development community up to date on news and events, scientific findings and other print and online publications.
Rural 21 is published by DLG-Verlag GmbH in Frankfurt/Germany. Financial partners are BMZ (German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development), GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit), DLG (German Agricultural Society – Deutsche Landwirtschaft-Gesellschaft), SDC (Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation) and Helvetas Swiss Intercooperation.
The first issue of Rural 21 dates back to 1968. From 1974 to 2007, the journal was published in three languages entitled "entwicklung & ländlicher raum" / "agriculture & rural development" / "agriculture & développement rural". In 2008, the journal was relaunched as "Rural 21".
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Displaying 286 - 290 of 319Rural-urban linkages in practice. Promoting agricultural value chains
Agricultural value chains link urban consumption with rural production. Changing demand, as a consequence of urbanization, emergence of «modern» consumption patterns or new trends in international trade, impacts on rural areas along value chains and spills over to marketing and production systems.These rural urban linkages bear challenges but also mutual benefits for producers and consumers and can be promising entry points for development interventions.This is illustrated with the case of the Kenyan potato value chain.
Fragile states: What can we learn from the country studies?
Afghanistan, Sierra Leone and Somalia: these three countries stand for different histories of a fragile state.The author of this article analyses different case studies to determine the various causes, such as the role of ethnic identities, claims to power by clans and other sub-state groups, or the lack of societal representation within the governments. For the author, the greatest risk to a state is violence, which can quickly spiral out of control in a weak state and lead to chaos.
Country Study 2:
Somalia - no central government, but still functioning
Somalia is the longest known case in modern times of a country whose central state has ceased to exist for many years. Although Somalia is often said to be a country in chaos and anarchy, a new form of social organization emerged here some time ago. Indeed, many Somalis appear to have adapted well to their country's statelessness.
Urban and rural areas: A changing relationship
The relationship between urban and rural areas has undergone great change in recent years. It is now often difficult to clearly define the borders between the two; instead we find a continuum ranging from agricultural zones to suburbs, informal settlements and urban centers. But do countries and development cooperation policies have the instruments needed to promote a dynamic and balanced development of urban and rural areas and open up opportunities for the people who live there?
The links between urban and rural prosperity in low- and middle-income nations. Cities benefit from a prosperous agriculture
Although «urban» and «rural» development are often considered as in opposition to each other and seen as competing with each other for investment and support, many urban centres owe much of their economic base to agriculture. Ironically, one of the best tests of whether rural development is working is whether local urban centres are booming - as increasing agricultural output is served by markets and producer services there, and as real increases in income for a wide range of rural households are reflected in increased demand for goods and services provided by urban-based enterprises.