Livelihood Security of Small and Marginal Farm Households in Punjab

The present study was conducted to assess the livelihood security of farm households. The study was conducted in the rural areas of Fatehgarh Sahib and Ludhiana districts of Punjab. A total of 88 small and marginal farm households selected from eight villages of four blocks in selected districts were interviewed through a stratified random selection technique. The analyses of data showed that the number of nuclear families was almost double to joint families. Only 6.81 percent of the households had an income of more than five lakhs per annum. The majority of the households had medium to low levels of household livelihood security. The districts were characterized by a low level of educational and economic security. More than half of the households were in favour of a joint family system for better livelihood security. The study suggested that livelihood security could be improved by providing skill-based education in rural schools and off-farm employment opportunities.

Author(s):  
Pádraig Wims

This chapter critiques the level of adoption of ICTs among the farming community in Ireland and compares this with adoption by the general population. It was found that although computer access and internet use among Irish households have been increasing rapidly in recent years, farm households have been lagging behind in adoption of these technologies. Broadband access has been particularly problematic in rural areas, where farm households are located. The development of a novel extranet service by a large agribusiness is also evaluated in this chapter; this service allows dairy farmer clients to access all information relevant to their accounts with this agribusiness through a secure website. A structured survey of clients was carried out, and respondents were stratified on the basis of their usage of this extranet service. It was found that three factors are constraining adoption and use of ICTs among Irish farmers: low levels of computer skills; lack of awareness of the potential of ICTs to contribute to the farm business; and thirdly, access to Broadband in rural areas. These are fundamental problems that constrain adoption of ICT.


The present paper is an attempt to analyze the socio-economic profile of the labour households in rural Punjab. The study revealed that majority of rural labour households belonged to the scheduled caste category. As far as the distribution of sampled rural labour households according to the family type was concerned, it was found that 46.42 percent of the total rural labour households had nuclear families, while the remaining 53.58 percent have joint families. Majority of the rural labourers were living in semi-pucca houses. Further, if we look at the housing condition, 54.72 percent of rural labourers owned the houses of average condition, 40.19 percent owned good condition households and 5.09percent owned dilapidated houses. The analysis further showed that as many as 20.35percentof the sampled labour population was illiterate. A few persons from sampled labour households educated above matric. Although large majority of the sampled labour population were from the working-age group yet the ratio of dependents was high among rural labour households. This was due to lower employment opportunities in rural areas.


2021 ◽  
pp. 003072702110194
Author(s):  
E Ronner ◽  
J Sumberg ◽  
D Glover ◽  
KKE Descheemaeker ◽  
CJM Almekinders ◽  
...  

How to stimulate technological change to enhance agricultural productivity and reduce poverty remains an area of vigorous debate. In the face of heterogeneity among farm households and rural areas, one proposition is to offer potential users a ‘basket of options’ – a range of agricultural technologies from which potential users may select the ones that are best suited to their specific circumstances. While the idea of a basket of options is now generally accepted, it has attracted little critical attention. In this paper, we reflect on outstanding questions: the appropriate dimensions of a basket, its contents and how they are identified, and how a basket might be presented. We conceive a basket of options in terms of its depth (number of options related to a problem or opportunity) and breadth (the number of different problems or opportunities addressed). The dimensions of a basket should reflect the framing of the problem or opportunity at hand and the objective in offering the basket. We recognise that increasing the number of options leads to a trade-off by decreasing the fraction of those options that are relevant to an individual user. Farmers might try out, adapt or use one or more of the options in a basket, possibly leading to a process of technological change. We emphasise that the selection (or not) of specific options from the basket, and potential adaptation of the options, provide important opportunities for learning. Baskets of options can therefore be understood as important boundary concepts that invite critical engagement, comparison and discussion. Significant knowledge gaps remain, however, about the best ways to present the basket and to guide potential users to select the options that are most relevant to them.


Agriculture ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 1230
Author(s):  
Fang Su ◽  
Nini Song ◽  
Nannan Ma ◽  
Altynbek Sultanalive ◽  
Jing Ma ◽  
...  

This paper aims to identify effective mechanisms for government poverty alleviation measures based on the livelihood sustainability of farm households in Southern Shaanxi province, China. The paper utilizes data from 414 farm households, collected through field observations and in-depth interviews in 24 rural communes in Qinba Mountain Area of Shaanxi province, China. Using theoretical research methods and employing the sustainable livelihood approach (SLA) framework, this paper analyzes poverty alleviation measures as well as the impact of varied capital availability on sustainable livelihood. The study shows that developing local industries and governmental financial support improve the sustainable livelihood of farmers and eradicate absolute poverty. The findings of this study further indicate that there is a positive correlation between poverty alleviation measures and natural and social capital for sustainable livelihood. The paper provides empirical and quantitative evidence on alleviation of poverty, and the findings will help improve the sustainability of livelihood capability of farming households. This study suggests impactful approaches to stabilizing mechanisms for poverty alleviation in rural areas over the longer term.


Author(s):  
S. U. Nwibo ◽  
T. O. Okonkwo ◽  
A. V. Eze ◽  
B. N. Mbam ◽  
N. E. Odoh

The paucity of empirical evidence to show the correlation between microcredit and poverty reduction in North-East, Nigeria led to the study on the effect of microcredit on poverty reduction among rural farm households. Multi-stage random and purposive sampling techniques were employed to select 200 farm households who constituted the sample size. Data were collected primarily using structured questionnaire and analysed with the aid of descriptive and inferential statistics. The results showed informal microcredit as the major source of credit for farm households. The result further indicated that 46% of the loan applied for was disbursed, resulting to 47% rise in farm household’s income. Meanwhile, 62% of farm households surveyed were poor with poverty depth of 0.43 and poverty severity at 0.38. The regression analysis on the effect of microcredit on the income of the farm households revealed that the coefficient of income was positive and statistically significant at 1% probability. The effect of microcredit on the poverty profile of farm households revealed that microcredit exerts negative influence on poverty profile of farm households in the study area. The study recommends: the establishment of robust rural credit scheme in rural areas; and institution of policy framework that will enable poor rural households without appropriate collateral to access funds for farm and non-farm activities.


2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-80
Author(s):  
S. A Dattijo

Due to many ways by which they are exploited, insects and their products could be a very big business. They are sold for agricultural protection, crop pollination, as well as human, livestock and pet nutrition. In addition, their products are sold for pharmaceuticals, health, and the implements for research, art works and a host of other uses. This review focused on commercialization of insects and their products with a view of sharing existing knowledge on global commerce of various insects and their products. Available literature revealed that there was an increase in demand for edible insects in the United States of America and prices were as high as $150 kg-1. Similarly, between 2010 and 2015, animal feed market in the United Kingdom grew at 3.5% annually and is currently worth £5 billion. Because of its scarcity, high demand, and recognition of its healing properties, royal jelly, one of the most sought after from bee products commands astronomical price internationally. In addition, no any other industry could generate high level of employment as sericulture, especially in rural areas where it takes 11 workdays to produce a Kg of raw silk. The contribution insects and their products can give to improve the economy of a developing country such as Nigeria is considerable, but underestimated or neglected. Insects are unlikely to make a major contribution in the near future, but the idea that they are potential source of overcoming the economic problems is not as farfetched as it seemed. Therefore, there is the need to adopt an added value approach to insects and their products and sensitize as well as encourage small-scale farmers, who are disadvantaged in international market participation due to lack of access to information, services, technology or the capacity, to produce larger volumes of quality insect products.


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