Rural Livelihood Diversification in Flood Prone Ecosystems of Odisha

Secondary data analysis for state domestic product for the last 64 years revealed that the percentage contribution of primary sector and within the sector, the contribution of agriculture and animal husbandry sub-sector has reduced considerably though in absolute terms all the sectors have increased. Analysis of primary data from a flood-prone area of Odisha revealed that non-farm income contributed 65 percent, while on-farm income contributed only 35 percent of the total income. Among non-farm income sources, other non-farm activities like crusher labour, vegetable business, shop keeping, construction work, repairing shop, etc. contributed maximum (29 percent) followed by salaried job (23 percent) and remittances (14 percent). Due to distress factors like frequent occurrence of natural calamities, farmers have diversified their income sources. Investment in human capital and creation of more non-farm employment opportunities in the study area, development of tube well irrigation and flood tolerant rice varieties as well as popularization of crop insurance programmes will help in increasing and stabilizing the income of farmers in flood prone areas of Odisha in the long run.