Communities comprised of a group of inhabitants who live a rustic or country lifestyle, generally having smaller populations and in an agricultural setting
What Can The Government Do To Ensure The Development In Rural Areas?
Most of the major U.S. companies are located in large cities. This has made the government tend to invest in and improve these sites, leaving aside the rural areas of the country.
However, this lack of attention on the part of the government has ended up causing rural areas to develop rather slowly. This situation has become a problem for most citizens because of one basic issue: about 50% of the country’s employees are in small businesses in rural areas.
With slower development negatively affecting the nation as a whole, multiple ideas for rural area development plans have emerged. In this article we will look at some of the more plausible ideas, and how they would affect the country today.
Improving Internet access and speed in rural areas
Nowadays, having an internet service has become a must for every business. The faster this service is, the more activities can be solved promptly, increasing the efficiency of the area. This ends up affecting farming, mining, education and labor sectors due to the slowdown that ends up making processes much slower.
In the United States, a total of 22.3% of residents in rural areas do not have access to fast internet, while in less populated areas this number rises to 27.7%. Compared to the mere 1.5% lack of internet in large cities, the inequality of this service can be seen on a large scale.
Previous governments have ignored both unpopulated and rural areas because of the little profit that various companies can make from this service. This has resulted in these areas having much slower access to the goods market, further distancing them from the economic productivity of the cities.
Expansion in the areas of Internet transmitters, as well as improving the state of existing ones, is a first step for the development of these areas.
Preventing rural governments from going bankrupt
Rural governments are an excellent idea that allows citizens to be able to attack specific problems in the area where they are. In this way, they can have quicker solutions that are more in line with what is happening in their community.
However, many governments of this type have fallen into the red due to sudden changes in the economy, entering into periods of bankruptcy. If a locality begins to lose its major form of income, it will gradually lose jobs and population to replace it.
This is particularly visible in farming towns, mining towns or communities dedicated to the production of wood products. Once the economy changes or the resources are depleted, the local government faces taxation from the state and ends up in decline.
Creating programs that allow such communities to stay afloat while generating a new form of income is vital for these areas. In turn, a decrease in taxes for a failing government goes a long way in helping it recover.
Reforms in the country’s agricultural system
Agriculture has become a form of empty income for employees in rural areas. This is because counties that are dependent on agriculture have found it very difficult to compete with large companies.
In the United States, 70% of the farms are owned by 8% of the companies engaged in this field. This has left little room for competition from people in rural areas.
Farming communities usually tend to have more difficult access to viable water for irrigation. In addition, they earn much less income from crops, creating a large economic difference in the wages their workers can earn.
With good law reforms that protect agricultural workers and promote equality between them and large companies, agricultural production in these areas could be increased. This becomes vital, as it both protects the country in case of food problems in certain areas and may even lower prices in the long run.
What other solutions could be implemented?
There is a great deal of room for ideas within rural development, but they all involve a large investment by the government. One of the first points that could be attacked is the application of racial justice within rural communities.
Within these areas, 98% of the land is owned by White people, yet 83% of the workers are of Hispanic ethnicity and have no labor protections of any kind. In addition, they suffer from labor abuses by their employers and income discrimination.
In addition, the U.S. government can help these communities just as well without going through specific measures for these areas. Working with basic options such as in the cities can lead to a great deal of growth.
Creating funds to facilitate higher education for area citizens and developing anti-poverty programs that are also used in urban communities can have an identical effect in rural areas.
What is certain is that what the rural areas of the country need most is attention from the government. Once attention is given and the problems of these areas are identified, it is very easy to carry out programs to solve them.
