Mar 2009: Rural Non-farm Livelihoods

Cover Story: Among the rural poor in India, non-farm livelihoods are a part of a diversified livelihood portfolio and trends indicate that non-farm component is increasingly emerging as a strong player in the income of the rural poor household. Influences of urbanization and globalization have brought about significant changes in the rural non-farm segment. While most of the agriculture-dependent traditional non-farm livelihoods are undergoing rapid changes and majority of them are struggling to retain their ground, some new ones like livelihoods in rural transport sector, construction sector, retail and tourism are gaining ground. ‘livelihoods’ team attempts to understand the trends, trails and tribulations of rural non-farm livelihoods in India which account for nearly 30 to 40 per cent of rural incomes.