World Rural Development Day: Why the future depends on revitalising village economies

On this World Rural Development Day (observed on July 6), we must confront an uncomfortable truth: The model of demographic transition from country to city — so often celebrated in mainstream development thinking as a future foretold and unfolding at a rapid pace — is not a solution for the future. Rather, if blindly pursued, it risks becoming both a human and ecological dead end.

Historically, urbanisation patterns of the Global North have been held up as the only aspirational future for the Global South. But these patterns were neither natural nor inevitable. They were driven by the enclosure movement, the Industrial Revolution and settler colonialism. Rural common lands were consolidated into private property, forcing countless rural workers to migrate to cities to fuel industrial growth.

Driven by capital accumulation from colonial plunder and labour power of dispossessed peasantry, while these cities became economic powerhouses, they were marked by harsh conditions: 12–16-hour workdays, low wages, unsafe and unsanitary housing, child labour and widespread poverty. Many surplus rural populations were not absorbed into cities at all but displaced Indigenous peoples through settler colonialism across the Americas, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa and so on.

A second wave of rural depopulation swept the Global North in the mid-20th century with the mechanisation of agriculture. The post-World War II boom improved living standards for many, but it also locked in patterns of urbanisation whose ecological costs are only now fully apparent. World Bank data showed that cities in high- and upper-middle-income countries are the world’s largest emitters of CO₂ — accounting for nearly 86 per cent of global urban emissions in 2015.

In stark contrast, cities in lower-income countries contributed a mere fraction. Yet even if rich-world cities achieve net-zero targets, if urbanisation in the Global South follows the same path, global emissions will vastly overshoot what is needed to limit warming to 1.5°C.

Meanwhile, neoliberal development models have produced “jobless” and “job-loss” growth, leaving millions without decent employment. Migrant populations are increasingly unwelcome in wealthy nations, even as the Global South faces rising urban poverty and precarious labour.

Today, over 110 million people are forcibly displaced (UNHCR, 2023). The International Labour Organization notes that over 60 per cent of the world’s employed population — some over two billion people — work informally, lacking basic protections, rights and security. Informality is spreading even into formal sectors through contract work and growing precarity.

These crises are not separate — they are intertwined. The agrarian crisis feeds the urban crisis, creating ever-larger “surplus populations” that are needed less and less in both agriculture and industry. Development planning has too often prioritised cities as “engines of growth”, channelling investment and services to urban areas while treating underdeveloped rural regions as reservoirs of cheap labour or raw materials. 

Smallholder or peasant farming has been dismissed as inefficient and backward. Policies have favoured industrial-scale agribusiness over diverse, sustainable rural economies. Rural populations, especially women who make up a large share of smallholder farmers, have been politically marginalised and excluded from decision-making.

Neglecting rural development has had dire consequences. Majority of the world’s extreme poor live in rural areas. When rural economies are ignored, people are pushed into overcrowded, under-resourced urban settlements. Food security and sovereignty are threatened when smallholder farmers are abandoned.

Environmental destruction — including deforestation, soil depletion and water scarcity — accelerates when rural livelihoods are insecure. Marginalised regions become more prone to conflict and social unrest, and gender inequality deepens as rural women remain excluded from land rights, credit, education and health.

The rural economy accounts for over 40 per cent of the world’s workforce — much higher in Asia and Africa. Many rural workers are landless or extremely marginal farmers. Secure land tenure is the foundation for revitalising rural economies. The 3.4 billion people living in rural areas deserve lives that flourish, with futures safeguarded through real investment in rural economies and agriculture. This means fair and stable crop prices, sustainable farming methods and upgrading peasant agriculture to reduce drudgery and lift people out of poverty.

Sustainable rural development is not just an option — it is essential. It is key to reducing poverty, ensuring food security, conserving natural resources, building resilience to climate change, and achieving gender equality. In short, well-being of people. Without rural development, most of the United Nations-mandated Sustainable Development Goals will remain out of reach.

On this World Rural Development Day, let us reaffirm our commitment to prioritising rural economies — not as an afterthought, but as the foundation of sustainable, inclusive and resilient development for all.

Sandeep Chachra is executive director, ActionAid Association. Views expressed are the author’s own and don’t necessarily reflect those of Down To Earth.