A STUDY ON LIVELIHOOD DETERMINANT AT FARM HOUSEHOLDS OF KUMAUN HILLS (UTTARAKHAND)

Abstract

Agriculture serves as the primary means of rural households’ livelihood for majority of the populations’ in developing countries. It has been the predominant activity for most rural farm households which offers a strong option for spurring growth, overcoming poverty, and enhancing food security. Smallholder rural farm households face an increasing need of looking for alternative income sources to supplement their small scale agricultural activities. However, livelihood diversification is determined by complex and yet empirically untested factors. Thus, the investigation was aimed to identify the determinants of livelihood diversification among different income categories of different altitude of Kumaun, Uttarakhand. The study is based on the findings from the data of 90 sample farm households consist of 30 labour income, 30 agriculture income and 30 government service income based farm households, selected through stratified random sampling from low, mid and high hill altitudes for the agriculture year 2013-14. To measure extent of livelihood determinants a set of factors viz: age of family head, family size, dependency ratio, education, asset value, farm size and land-man ratio and therefore these variables were incorporated in the model. Multiple linear regressions were fitted to examine the factors affecting livelihood diversification was the study area. The study has suggested the need to develop education and skill development trainings to poor farm households in the hilly areas, it surely provide a positive impact on the ability to diversify their livelihood options.