The role of mobility among rural people requires much more attention than it has received thus far, including in the design and provision of extension and rural advisory services (RAS). Mobility has often been a neglected element of rural livelihoods, but it is becoming more significant because of factors such as increasingly dynamic rural–urban connectivity, youth population demographics, and the impacts of climate change and the spread of conflict.

In many developing countries, the population of young people is growing. This is especially the case in Africa and South Asia, where agriculture’s share of gross domestic product is relatively high and urbanisation rates are relatively low. The prospect in these countries and regions for classical structural transformations, involving the emergence of manufacturing and services sectors as major generators of national employment, appears highly questionable. There are concerns, for example, over automation, sustainability, and entrenched comparative advantages of emerging countries in the export of manufactured goods.