Fundamentals of Extension Education

Meaning of Rural Development

 
• The term rural development connotes overall development of rural areas with a view to improve the quality of life of rural people. In this sense, it is a comprehensive and multidimensional concept and encompasses the development of agriculture and allied activities village and cottage industries and crafts, socio-economic infrastructure, community services and facilities, and above all, the human resources in rural areas.
• As a phenomenon, rural development is the end result of interactions between various physical, technological, economic, socio-cultural and institutional factors.
• As a strategy, it is designed to improve the economic and social well being of a specific group of people – the rural poor.
• As a discipline, it is multidisciplinary in nature representing an intersection of agricultural, social, behavioral, engineering and management sciences.
--- In the words of Robert Chambers ---
• Rural development is a strategy to enable a specific group of people, poor rural –women and men, to gain for themselves and their children more of what they want and need. It involves helping the poorest among those who seek a livelihood in the rural areas to demand and control more of the benefits of rural development. The group includes small scale farmers, tenants and the landless.
• Rural development is necessary not only because an overwhelming majority of population lives in villages, but because the development of rural activities is essential to accelerate the pace of overall economic development of the country.