The article considers the importance of RNAE and RNAI and makes policy recommendations for their promotion. Support to agriculture must be located in the wider context of rural development and a more balanced set of policies adopted. There is no case for exclusive reliance on agricultural development to improve the quality of life in rural areas. If growth in the wider rural economy is not promoted, constraints in human and physical capacity will limit agricultural growth. Local government has a particular role in many countries in promoting diversification through capacity building, fiscal incentives, and provision of some infrastructure.
Gender is an important determining factor for access to rural, non-agricultural jobs.
RNAE policies and programmes that support rural women must offer much greater attention to facilitating their access to wage-earning jobs in agroindustry, trade and other services. This requires a reversal of current bias in favour of creating manufacturing micro-enterprises which seem to offer rural women few opportunities for sustainable development. The paper concludes that the promotion of rural non-agricultural employment and income cannot be made at the cost of shifting resources from the agricultural sector. The challenge consists in mobilising additional investment and capacity, both public and private.