African rural transformation and livelihood system: experience from Mauritius

Abstract

African rural transformation aimed to shift from agricultural domination livelihood to diversified economic activities like industries and services. However, factors like political instability, corruption, lack of finance, lack of political commitment, low technology, and others stagnated the transformation. Although most African countries’ rural transformation is ambitious, some tried their best to realize it. This article scrutinizes the African rural livelihood system and rural transformation focusing on Mauritius. We used a qualitative explanatory approach to study the research. We also used secondary data sources to enrich the title. The findings of this paper reveal that Mauritius has invested much to realize the transformation by setting different policies and taking measures to increase the share of services in the national GDP and decrease the agricultural share in the GDP. Mauritius established the Rural Development Unit that operated under the Ministry of Economic Planning to improve the rural people’s quality with the help of the World Bank. Besides, the government incorporated the Arsenal Litchis Project, the Riche Terre Cooperative project, credit loan facilities access, IFAD funds accessibilities, and the small entrepreneurs’ programs formations to accelerate the transformation. It concludes that the country has achieved remarkable rural transformation that can be a model for other African countries. It recommends that other African countries, where agriculture is the leading economic system should create platforms like lasting political stability and design inclusive and research-oriented policies, programs, and strategies to realize rural transformation.