Development of rural non-farm employment (RNFE) opportunities is widely recognised to be a pillar of rural development policy and critical factor for providing rural employment and income in the long-term perspective.
Rural development policy is a complex issue, but is basically about two things: delivering public services in rural areas, in particular physical and social infrastructure, and supporting economic development in rural areas (Kuhn and Demyanenko, 2004). In the latter context, non-farm employment, in addition to agriculture, offers an important source of rural employment and opportunity to raise rural incomes, and hence living standards in rural Ukraine.