Credit, food and labour. Constraints on structural adjustment in rural areas of South India

Structural adjustment policies and processes hinge on trading development funding and debt relief for national policy changes aimed at curbing central controls on economic development and barriers to free trade. Researchers from the Universities of Bradford and Hyderabad probed the effect of structural adjustment processes on poor rural areas in Andhra Pradesh, South India. They found that none of the changes resulting from structural adjustment that appeared liable to affect rural areas (such as higher interest rates on rural credit, or higher food prices) had yet taken effect in the region. Even so, their report identifies ways in which different groups in rural areas might be threatened by such changes. It also suggests new steps to help protect the poorest and empower women affected by the process of reform.