Subsistence agricultural income level in rural communities

The quantity of global capital has been increased by the widespread move to a money economy after the Second World War. However, most rural communities are excluded from the mainstream of capital flow. In many villages, the economy rests on one cash crop with a secure but low market income. The people are almost totally dependent on farming and the unpredictable sufficiency or insufficiency of rain. This provides a very narrow economic base and places the community in a perpetual struggle with contingency. Although people work long hours, and although most villages have virtually no unemployment, yet in relation to the village's human potential and productive capacity there is radical underemployment, and few possibilities for improvement. Many rural communities have no industry and only a few small shops and businesses. Shopkeepers, farmers and fishermen operate on subsistence level profits, and the additional cost involved in transporting goods from urban areas to rural villages increases overheads and lowers profit margins even more. Low incomes mean there is no financial surplus, and thus no seed money is available for local expansion or investment. High construction costs further prohibit development, and it often takes several selling seasons to complete a building. The volume of production decreases where children are no longer as active in the family's work as they once were. Whatever funds are generated in a household are managed on a day by day basis and few records are kept for reference.