Rural Areas Need To Be Developed

Rural areas need to be developed. Discuss.
It is difficult to define the word “rural” as you can’t just tell where rural begins anymore. However, people have a common perception of what rural areas are like. In general, a rural area is a geographical area that is located outside cities and towns. A typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Forests are an example of rural areas. Agricultural areas are also commonly stated as rural areas not because of their small settlements, but for the low population density. Agricultural areas usually have a large area of land so that there is sufficient place for the farmer to grow their plants such as vegetables, fruits, palm oil and many more.
Rural development, it is generally refers to the process of improving the quality of the life and economic well-being of people living in the rural areas. It was first centered on the exploitation of land-intensive natural resources, until the changes in global production networks and increased urbanization changed the character of rural areas. Rural development is now defined as the extension of irrigation facilities, expansion of electricity, improvement in the techniques of cultivation, construction of school building and provision of educational facilities, health care etc.
The main reason for rural development is the urban-rural imbalance. Researches have shown that more than 70% of the world’s population live in the metropolitan framework. There must be a legit reason why most of the people in the whole world prefer to live in urban area instead of rural areas. This is because urban areas have more opportunities, services, and great personal fulfillment. The most common factor contributing to rural-to-urban migration is rural unemployment as rural areas have higher fertility levels than the urban areas. Besides that, rural areas also face a shortage of basic technology which in no time promotes out-migration and environmental degradation.
When this situation happens, when everyone decides to migrate to city, the city will be overpopulated, this is when the problem starts. The amount of arable land available in the developing area decreases drastically, causing the urban government to not able to provide housing, sanitation, public safety, other necessary services, and most importantly, not enough jobs. The city would be too crowded and undesirable for people to stay. In order to overcome this situation, the local government must think of a way to expand their urban area and the best way to do it is by developing the rural areas. Rural development programs are usually top-down from the local or regional authorities, regional development agencies, national government or international development organizations. However, the local populations can also bring about endogenous initiatives for development. Rural development aims at finding the ways to improve the rural lives with participation of the rural people themselves so as to meet the required need of the rural area. The outsider may not understand the setting, cultural, language and other things prevalent in the local areas. Hence, the people in the rural area themselves have to participate in their sustainable rural development.