1. Introduction
All over the world, the rural transformation processes affect the lives of about 4.6 billion people who work 60 percent of the world’s arable land and produce almost two-thirds of food and non-food agricultural products. Rural transformation poses great challenges to rural people and areas, but also it also provides great opportunities for sustainable development. Recognizing these challenges as well as exploiting the opportunities can decide whether a society lives through a vicious or compassionate transformation (Global Donor Platform, 2016).
Most Asian countries like South Korea have transformed themselves from poor agrarian nations into one of the fastest-growing industrialized economies in the world and witnessed remarkable economic development in the last 50 years, transforming themselves from one of the world’s poorest agrarian societies to a highly industrialized, wealthy nation, which is focused on export-driven industrialization (Park Sihyun, 2007). According to (Yoon S., et al, 2013), South Korea’s economic success is best characterized as “a prime example of latecomer’s high-rate growth, which condenses the longer development history of developed countries” and is known as an Asian Tiger economy country. Korea has been near the top of the world’s growth charts, with forty years of growth and the rural truism has an 8% contribution to the national growth.
The evolution of South Korea's rural policies is embedded through the different national institutions with different sectors. Different committees have participated in the rural development and policies. The committee that was established in South Korea includes the minister and president level. The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs is a key ministry in rural development in Korea collaborative with other stakeholders (Kim, T. and J. Lim 2016).
In South Korea, agricultural policies contributed to the development of rural areas and the remarkable increase in agricultural production and income in absolute terms. Korea’s evolving national development goals and policies are embodied in the Comprehensive National Territorial Plans which were formerly formulated every ten years before being extended to a twenty-year term since the fourth Comprehensive National Territorial Plan in 2000, presents the long-term vision and orientation of the government on territorial development (Kim, T. and J. Lim 2016).
The setting programs had the goals of developing large-scale industrial bases the intensification of transportation and the provision of water resources and energy in order to facilitate economic growth. The government used public resources and external borrowing to finance the work, focusing first on manufacturing and services based on geographical impact. The Korean government exclusively focused on industrial development and on regional balance or living conditions in the phase of planning (Park Sihyun, 2007).
The intentions of the Korean government were regionally decentralized development efficient land use improvement of quality of life, enhancing amenities, and unification by strengthening industrial centers along the west coast and the regional and provincial cities. The Law on Regional Balanced Development and Promotion of Local Small- and Medium-sized Firms was enacted, establishing and develop to plans (Lee W., 2015). The socio-economic changes in conditions Koreans being experienced emerged and become more widely recognized in rural policy and institutions. Balanced territory, green territory, open territory, and unified territory” were the target of the South Korean government. The territory stresses that regional integration and balanced development through the efforts of each region to enhance its own local identity (MOLIT 2012).
Diversification of rural economic opportunities may further extend to the industries that do not directly relate to agriculture promoted by the construction of industrial complexes, which provide jobs in both manufacturing industries and agricultural product processing. While in the early stages of the development era national policy had been primarily focused on industrialization, policies for economic development in rural regions were also implemented in the form of a modernization movement to raise agricultural productivity and the income of farming households, alongside efforts to improve living (Lee, W., 2015).
The transformation of the rural sector in Ethiopia including agriculture is still an ongoing process, the outcome required integrated work and has largely been shaped by the vigorous responses of all stakeholders to each of the formidable challenges that happen. In Ethiopia, the rural government policies have been changed as the state changed but it has not enough outcomes for the rural community. Locating the progress of rural development of the developed countries is most important. So to pinpoint the development path of the developed countries this research has been conducted.
4. Most important lessons that Ethiopia take into considerations regarding to rural transformation
4.1. Rural transformation experience of South Korea and the lessons Ethiopia takes from
The republic of South Korea was a home of very poor agrarian society. Ethiopia considers South Korea as an important model for its economic development and the country draws heavily on the lessons of South Korea. Development of infrastructure, agricultural technology, and institutional establishment are major factors to achieve food security in Ethiopia (Mohammed Yimer 2015).
Like other industries of south Korea, Ethiopia may learn some important lessons from the agricultural sectors of Korea, specifically political leadership, community participation, institutional transformation, technology reform, strong support of international societies, agricultural infrastructure development and parallel development of other industries. Above all, technology innovation will be the trigger of rural development (Ramirez, L., & Rubio, J. 2010).
South Korea‘s development success was attributable in great part to the government‘s role in strengthening the capabilities of firms (Lee 2013). The derivable lesson, then, is not necessarily that the government should target certain industries, as Korea seems to have done. Public provision of such physical and institutional infrastructures would induce productive private capital, which would be the complementary physical capital required to reduce the risk of human capital. Ethiopia has potential social capital. Clearly, human capital development is an essential integral part of any successful development strategy.
Table 1.
the rural policy planning of the South Korea government.
Table 1.
the rural policy planning of the South Korea government.
The first plan and activities national of South Korea |
The second plan and activities national of South Korea |
The third plan and activities national of South Korea |
Improved welfare in rural area |
Improved welfare and public health |
Public health and welfare |
Expanding the education foundation |
Enhancing education condition |
Education |
Facilitating local development |
Expanding basic living infrastructure |
Rural settlement |
133 identified policy task and 22.8 loan of investment |
Diversifying economic activities |
Economic activities and jobs |
Improving conditions for culture and leisure |
Culture and leisure |
Improving environment and landscape |
Environment and landscape |
Reinforcing local development capacity |
Safety |
133 identified policy task and 34.5 loan of investment |
184 identified policy task and 46.8 loan of investment |
From the above table we understand that the Korean rural policy has increasingly extended its focus from development to well-being of the rural communities to improve the quality of life in rural Areas and rural development promotion. The standards cover a wide range of basic public services and set the targets to be achieved, selected by the central government, while the local government may add items according to the local conditions and needs supporting with the national government vision, goal, and driving forces (MOLIT, 2012).
4.2. Land transformation in South Korea and the lesson for Ethiopia
Land transformation has long-term social benefits. The flaws of the land reform were often cited as the fundamental cause of rural poverty. The land reform established a large number of economically independent small farm households in the agricultural industry, which represented almost 70 percent of the total population of South Korea. Land transformation in South Korea was a process of establishing autonomous farm household economies that would serve as the supporters of the South Korean capitalist regime, but they were only “unsustainable” petty farms in terms of agricultural management and financial planning. The reform would not be viable without proper follow-up legal measures. This intrinsic vulnerability of South Korean land reform was symbolically revealed in the behaviors and dynamics of farmers when the law was enacted in each village (Rudolf Robert, 2012).
The land transformations have been determined with respect to economic as well as social and political aspects. The economical aspect has been examined. Land reform contributes to an increase in farm households’ incomes through improving agricultural productivity. Land reform has a ripple effect on social and political aspects as important as economical aspects (Jeon, Y.D., Y.Y. Kim, 2000).
The network of tenant farmers collapsed after the land reform. The landlords’ managerial support in the provision of agricultural funds, machinery, fertilizer, technology, and information which was usually accompanied by harsh exploitation was disconnected and not replaced by government support. Farmers had to absorb themselves in cultivating their own small pieces of land and take responsibility for their economic management, which was an unlimited liability related to their livelihood (Jeon, Y.D., Y.Y. Kim, 2000).
Agricultural land reform contributed not only to state-building but also to redistributing wealth and reducing income inequalities. Everyone was now placed on a more or less equal footing, and individual effort and ability rather than family wealth became the most important determinant for individual success. Land surveys and registration conducted by the colonial government in the 1910s established the modern system of property right in Korea and reduced land transaction costs, but it was not accompanied by measures to protect small farmers and led to a wide disparity in agricultural land holdings (Seok-gon Cho, 2001).
According to the Lee W., (2015) study the Korean government responded to the increasing demand for agricultural land reform by enacting the Farmland Reform Act of 1949 and revising it in 1950. The reform was based on the principle of compensation for a feature and non-free distribution, whereby the government bought farmland from landlords at forced prices and sold it to farmers at below-market rates.
Many believe that the Koreans’ characteristic diligence and their emphasis on education were motivated by this perception of equal opportunity. On the negative side, however, restrictions on farmland holdings hampered the growth of large-scale farming and contributed to the low productivity growth of the agricultural sector in later years. Related to this, Ethiopia has a long legacy of state intervention in land tenure relations. The state has exerted considerable influence on local land tenure regimes throughout different political regimes. South Korean, countries enacted major land reforms and outlawing tenancy on agricultural lands and she has developed a modern, market economy (Berhanu A., 2002).
The act enabled individuals to own agricultural land under three conditions. First, any individual can own agricultural land but only if he or she cultivates or manages it for him or herself; second, one can own three hectares at maximum, and third land-renting activities are legally prohibited. Contrary in Ethiopia, the land owners could not cultivate the land but rent it to others for purpose of sharecropping. Atakile Beyene, (2004) shows that redistributive land reform in the Ethiopian reflects that the state and its local representatives have been the dominating force in the highland areas in defining access, distribution, and tenure terms of user rights
But, in South Korea, the tenants highly benefitted from the land reforms, and the landlords were also compensated thereby creating a favorable setting for the enhancement of non-agricultural rural economic activities as well in the rural areas. The experiences of South Korea are relevant for Ethiopia because the path they have undergone as developmental states can inform the pursuits of countries who are in the course of adopting the path. Due to government intervention in expediting the payment of compensation to landlords whose land was distributed to tenants, the tenants made the payments for a prolonged period and a reasonable amount because the price of land was extremely low during the period. In South Korea, land reform was accompanied by land tenure and land security.
Smallholder farmers in Ethiopia are more suffered in land transformation by the government and large investors, and they are weak in their economy because they have no clear land rights in particular and middle farmers in general (Berhanu A., 2002). Therefore the experiences of South Korea in land rights clearly show that the smallholder farmer was empowered with secure property rights and tenure because he/she does not merely hold the land but owns it. Generally, the land transformation in South Korea gradually gave way to farmland consolidation and modern agriculture with the optimal levels of tenure and security in land rights.
4.3. Health care reform in South Korea and the lessons for Ethiopia
South Korea is one of the world’s most rapidly industrializing countries, with industrialization has come universal health insurance. The health systems of the South Korea drown from United States. The government mandated medical insurance for employees and their dependents in large firms with more employees (Anderson GF., 1989).
National health insurance of the South Korea was extended to the whole nation. Many predicted Korean National health insurance would falter financially. The government announced that National health insurance would separate reimbursement for pharmaceuticals from medical care in July of 2000; Westernized medical practitioners closed their clinics and refused to treat patients. This policy of separating compensation for pharmaceuticals from medical care is regarded as the most significant factor in disrupting the financial structure of Korean National health insurance (Kim BY, 2000).
In 1977, the Korean President Park Chung-Hee and the legislature passed a law that mandated medical insurance for employees and their dependents in large firms with more employees regarding to this the advances and challenges experienced by Korea’s health system in the last forty years can provide many important lessons for low and middle- income countries (Anderson GF, 1989).
South Korea insure health services in twelve years and The health reforms aimed at ensuring efficient and equitable delivery of services and improving financing structures of its health system. The Korean government implemented a series of reforms even after health insurance covered the entire population (Kim BY, 2000). This help to found consistence health service. The implementation of Korea’s National Health Insurance scheme began with those population groups that were easiest to reach and enroll. A large employee companies were the first body to implement the policy of health insurance. The health insurance program achieved universal coverage of the population by including the rural self-employed first and then urban self-employed.
Farmers requested government subsidies for their contribution and the expansion of health care facilities in rural areas to improve their access to medical care. Consequently, government subsidized health insurance for the self-employed and provided financial incentives and loans for private hospitals to open in rural areas. The subsidy was initially about half of the total revenue of the health insurance scheme for the self-employed, and was later reduced incrementally. As government tightly regulated the fee schedule for (both public and private) providers through health insurance, lower fees (than customary fees) were applied to enrollees of health insurance, which provided an incentive to join health insurance (Ahn Y, Kim N, Kim CB, Ham, 2013).
Our country Ethiopia has different health policies in different regimes and she is in the way of going to improve the health system. Health extension service and Health Insurance (“Yetena Medin”) is the current Ethiopian health development plan (FMOH, 2010). Even though, Ethiopia struggles with persistently high maternal mortality, and access to family planning and reproductive health services is limited particularly for the large proportion of people living in rural areas and youth, this is because the government cannot provide financial support. Therefore, the government should take experience from South Korea such as subsidies in financial and medical insurance for employees, and support the private health sector established in rural areas. Regard to Federal Ministry of Health (2010) study in Ethiopia the private health sector acceptable to establish health companies in urban areas but the expansion of the health sector must be like in South Korea this means the private hospital, health sector, and health insurance focused in the rural area. These systems improve the rural health care of the rural community and the government should give high recognition of the non-governmental organization that mandated to do work to improve the rural people.
4.4. Marketing and trade transformation in South Korea and Lessons for Ethiopia
South Korea's economic development focused on whether the Korean government adopted market-oriented or market-intervention measures to reinforce an economic development policy based on the export of manufactured goods. The government policies and extensive market intervention in East Asia accelerated economic growth. The statist school argues that information problems, risk, and late entry limit or restrict development, and that only by "getting the prices wrong" through government intervention will firms engage in the activities necessary to trigger sustained economic growth (UNCTAD, 2014).
According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (2014), report the government of South Korea focused on building a new market where people sell rice through word-of-mouth referrals. There, it is now easier for new farmers to settle in the area, because they know that there is a pool of people willing to buy the food they produce. So, the government should be committed to ensuring rights to food by establishing a healthy food system, and the best way to do so is to link food production and consumption locally.
The South Korea government implemented policies to increase the exports of agricultural and livestock products in order to raise rural income and support industrialization. The government extended the opening up of commercial markets and liberalized the foreign exchange market in order to meet the competitive pressures of other advanced countries and to properly manage the influx of foreign money caused by a current account surplus (UNCTAD, 2011).
The free market does not work for agriculture. It takes several months to grow food, and farmers cannot cease growing in the middle of the year despite of the demand decrease the price elasticity of supply is low. But the government keeps letting the free market regulate produce prices and it fails to do so. Policymakers focus more on helping farmers sell their products to supermarkets. However, these are not solving the fundamental problems (Yeshineh, K., 2016).
The government of South Korea officially made public its application for an international monetary fund relief loan by against the economic crisis carried out a multidirectional restructuring of the economy and labour market (Kim D, 2005). According to the study of Park Sihyun, (2007) said about Structure of the Korean labor market has undergone revolutionary changes over the last thirty years. The institutional arrangements of the Korean labor market have greatly facilitated growth. Migration from the rural areas did indeed fall sharply. This has had been towards giving various producer groups the distributional gains from government interventions, in the form of subsidized factors or market protection.
As shown from the South Korea trade and market experience, Export trade certainly contributes tremendously to South Korea economy and it enables South Korea access new markets for the raw materials and may open up new production possibilities and technologies. So Ethiopia take lessons from South Korea, to encourage export diversification for which contributes greatly to job creation and balance of payment for the rural and national economy.
As the study of Yeshineh, K., (2016), unveiled that role in enhancing the financial capacity of the local enterprises and producers in Ethiopia and again enables the Ethiopian people to consume lease cost foreign products items. Export policy of South Korea is significant apart from formal and informal institutions been largely consequent for economic success. But Ethiopia largely dominant on import and it cause for constraint of infant domestics industries and market deterioration.
Lee K., (2013) revealed that Countries which do not open up economically to the world market remain poor. Therefore, Ethiopian in implementation of action plans should formulate and then constantly adjusted in response to shifting domestic trade into export market. The Ethiopian government intervened directly in the market for the execution of the Plan although the degree of official involvement varied among industries.
4.5. Rural job employment in South Korea and lessons for Ethiopia
A major persistent effect of the financial crisis has been the increased pressure on South Korea’s labor market. As low growth hampered job creation, finding and maintaining employment has become extremely difficult. Although South Korea was the first nation to recover from the crisis, after more than two years of painful reform measures, its corporate restructuring measures have limited job creation (Jung Gap-jin, 2009).
The rural development policy constitutes a coherent and long-term framework guaranteeing the future of rural areas and promoting the maintenance and creation of employment. The actual unemployment rate for younger Koreans appears to be much higher than the official statistics, and the government is under heavy public pressure to improve these numbers. It is not only younger job seekers, however, who are becoming increasingly pessimistic about their future and skeptical of the status (UNCTAD, 2014).
South Korea is suffering from its highest rates of youth unemployment since the Korean economic crisis in 1998. The South Korea government focused Youth entrepreneurship which is important tool to solve the country’s unemployment problems then with a vibrant entrepreneurship environment show higher productivity rates, increased economic growth, and more robust job creation (Jung Gap-jin, 2009).
South Korea had nearly twenty year period of rapid structural change. In that time there had been massive absorption of labor by the modern sector, in both manufacturing and service industries. As industrialization proceeded, however, certain strains in the labor market began to be observed. South Korean governments have also been concerned to discourage powerful trade unions and avoid most forms of 'labor protection laws (Park Sihyun, 2007).
The Rural Job Opportunity Creation Strategy was launched by the minister of agriculture and was adopted by the Council of Ministers. Rural livelihoods and employment creation are at the heart of Ethiopia’s national development agenda. Although, Ethiopia has numerous job policy the unemployment rate in rural area is high which cause social instability (Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, 2014)
Therefore the South Korea experience may be a good lesson for Ethiopia. Ethiopia must give a chance for newly emerging institutions which are working in the entrepreneurships sectors. Supporting the youth entrepreneurship in rural area can reduce the unemployment harms. Structural change can explicitly expand the job market. This is one of the engines for South Korea to reduce the unemployment problem and can facilitate the economic growth in rural area. Ethiopia must take this as a model to reduce the job problem.
In South Korea both state and government played important roles and significant contributions for development. Ethiopia receives can learn from the South Korea success story in the field of job market. South Korea establishes different vocational training institution to improve the job need of the rural people. This is also important for Ethiopia to developing technical capacity of youth population found in different part of rural Ethiopia. Government must create an enabling environment to attract and support creativity and innovations among the population in the process of job creation for rural community.
4.6. Rural political transformation in South Korea and the lesson for Ethiopia
The Korean government took an active part in implementing policies and programs to improve living standards in rural communities. The South Korea governments strongly believe that Labor market developments have undoubtedly been a necessary condition for achievement of rural economic success (Taebyung Kim and Junghwan Lim June, 2016).
Within the six republics South Korea made political revolutionary change. Rural political transformation decreases the economic disparities and a resulting sense of relative equalization as in the development of politics in South Korea (Daniel A. Pinkston, 2016). Political scholars believe that political disparity has high political influence on the rural peoples. It cause for economic disparities, as an economically dominant ethnic group gets richer at the expense of other groups. In South Korea the newly established government political reforms the existing political system as suitable to the rural community in particular and the all people as a general. So, the Ethiopia government should establish the comprehensive political system which is embraced the rural people that have equal decision power on the economic social and another development aspect.
According to the expression of Taebyung Kim and Junghwan Lim June (2016), To have equal political benefit of the rural people as the rest national people, the south Korean political system is going through a transitional stage. These transitional politics involve diverse political actors; power elites, NGOs, and the media are the most visible. But, interest groups representing business, labor, and various occupational organizations are not playing any visibly significant role in the transitional politics of South Korea. The experience of South Korea political development at the rural area have different part which helps to adopt and Easley implement to the concerned body. The rural peoples stand to protect themselves for the interruption of social and economical corruption. Therefore the Ethiopian government should adopt the rural political system of the South Korea.
Politicians also have been on the defensive, at least until the new Assembly was formed, as they were often criticized for corruption or not representing the public interest. Korean power elites tended to be homogeneous. They often received their higher education in the other countries like US and tended to share the goals of political stability and economic growth to South Korea Daniel A. Pinkston (2016)
Giving the chance and support for the growth of civic organizations was the principle of the South Korea government. Specialized non-governmental organizations focusing on a range of issues, such as the environment, human rights, and education, have emerged for rural development and transformation which leading the civic movement to be progressive. By taking positions to public pushing for political and economic reforms, they have contributed to political division in civil society rather than fostering social harmony. Political institution of South Korea make the democracy mature and they can channel to public demands and satisfy conflicts equipped for rural area, and reshapes its political geography within the urban (So, S.-Y., 2007),
4.7. Rural Truism transformation for rural development in South Korea and lessons for Ethiopia.
Tourism is arguably the world’s largest economic sector, accounting for over 10% of the world’s GDP and employment and 5.5 million new jobs annually. In most countries, tourism is perceived to be only one of a number of feasible options for effective rural development, and needs to be “integrated” with other activities (WTO, 2002).
Rural truism conceder as the key means of income generation and rural viability, agro-tourism, is a composite of agricultural products, eco-products, and cultural products, which bears such diverse functions as economic, social, educational, environmental, recreational, and therapeutic. The incumbent government in Korea launched a balanced development strategy to eliminate gaps between urban and rural areas by accelerating the development of rural areas and farming. Nations (ASEAN, 2005).
The government of South Korea expects that the new development approach for rural areas would greatly improve the quality of life not only for rural residents but also for urban people. Now rural tourism is one of the most promising areas for Korean farmers to cope with their agricultural income falling. It also helps give Korean agriculture an increased range of functions propelled by a new demand from rural-urban linkages, that solely focus on inducing urban people to rural villages. Urban people can enjoy leisure activities and learning by experience, staying and resting in the countryside, while rural people can create jobs and increase sales of products (Antonio Almeida and Luis pinto Machado, 2021).
East Asian economies vary greatly in size, structure and stage of economic development, but the above generalities apply there as much as in North America, Europe and elsewhere. There is increasing environmental awareness, and ‘green’ issues have raised the attractiveness of rural experiences in terms of ecologically sustainable tourism. Agricultural development in East Asia is often strongly linked to the decline in the traditional centrality of rice in farming and the national diet, and more recently to supplying “modern” farm and food products to the growing cities and to foreign buyers (Antonio Almeida and Luis pinto Machado, 2021).
The Korean government has been carrying out various schemes to develop rural tourism. Deregulation to promote rural tourism has included the revision of farmland laws so that more capital can be attracted. The main characteristics of the rural tourism development currently taking place in Korea are rural residents making a development plan, assisted by relevant experts (Antonio Almeida and Luis pinto Machado, 2021). Rural tourism inn South Korea, increasingly promoted as an effective vehicle for the regeneration of rural areas. Truism has its own market and institutional characteristics, including growing demand, resource availability, and developing public private partnerships. The Korean government has developed its rural tourism policy for many years. Both policy support and the active participation of rural residents are needed for success.
Lessons for Ethiopia From different scholars that I have understand is integrated from the government body, the participation of residents and the financial patronage from different sources have a key contribution to economic development and national gross domestic product. Therefore, Ethiopia should take experience from the developed nations as rural truisms motivate the farming productivities, to economic growth and ecological conservation straightforward to reducing unemployment and poverty.