With reference to Nepal.

Rural development policies have historically focused primarily on increasing agricultural productivity, but this volume demonstrates the need for a much broader approach as rural producers become increasingly integrated into the global economy. Followi

Rural Development in the United States presents a comprehensive evaluation of the economic, environmental, and political implications of past rural development and a thorough consideration of the directions in which future development efforts should go. The authors have assembled the best of what is being thought and done with regard to rural development in the United States, and place it in a broad theoretical, historical, and geographical context. The book provides: a summary of the key findings in rural development research of the past twenty years an integration of development theory and practical experience a bridge between the related but often isolated disciplines that inform rural development a catalyst for new thinking in the area of rural development analysis of the key economic sectors in rural areas: natural resources, the service sector, elderly services, telecommunications, manufacturing, tourism, and high-technology It includes important information about how national and international trends affect rural communities and development strategies and will help guide rural economic development policy in the United States during the 1990s and beyond.

Reducing rural poverty is a key objective of FAO. To achieve this goal, the Organization must reach the poor and the extremely poor in rural areas, analysing their needs and aspirations and providing effective guidance for the design of policies and investments that foster inclusive and sustainable development. This guide was developed to strengthen the Organization’s work on rural poverty reduction and inclusivity over the coming years. It provides key information to measure poverty, characterize rural populations, and identify their constraints to target them more accurately. The guide includes five chapters. Chapter 1 explains the structure, content, and use of the guide, as well as its intended users and objectives. Chapter 2 discusses how poverty is measured, focusing on the different indicators that can be used, depending on the context, specific circumstances, data availability and policy objectives. Chapter 3 provides guidance on how to build a poverty profile and produce poverty maps to understand who the poor are and where they are located. Chapter 4 focuses on the targeting process, on various targeting techniques and on how to choose one over another to ensure that programmes and projects effectively combat poverty, particularly in rural areas. Finally, Chapter 5 sets the next steps for the development of further analytical guides. The various chapters provide an overview of both widely used and emerging techniques in poverty analysis, focusing on quantitative methods, and giving constant attention to FAO’s areas of work and the challenges posed by operating in rural areas.

In the post-World War II era, widespread rural poverty, most notably among farmers, dominated rural policy concerns. The Eisenhower Administration's Undersecretary for Agriculture, True D. Morse, began a rural development program in 1955 to assist low-income farmers. Because agriculture was the major economic activity in many rural areas of the time, a focus on farms and farm households became de facto rural policy. The war on poverty during the 1960s continued the focus on rural poverty as a central policy issue. When agriculture began to decline as rural America's dominant economic activity, policy attention shifted to rural revitalisation. The 1980s farm financial crisis and economic dislocation in rural America brought the importance of rural structural change to the forefront of policy concerns. The further decline of farming to less than 8% of rural employment and the loss of many manufacturing jobs during the past decade have highlighted the growing gap between many rural areas and the Nation's urban/suburban areas. While no overarching framework guides rural policy at the federal level, adequate housing, employment creation and business retention, human capital concerns, poverty issues, medical care, and infrastructure development remain key foci of federal rural policy.

Rural development is a crucial issue throughout the world. Key issues include farming and forestry, land use and the management of natural resources. In addition economic diversification in rural communities is at the centre of many programs across the globe.