Livelihood Diversification Scenario in Hill State, Meghalaya: Impact and Determinants

Abstract

Livelihood diversification is a norm in every economy, particularly in rural India, where farming alone rarely provides sufficient income. The study was conducted at Mawpran village in the hilly terrain, Meghalaya, India in the year 2017, with the objective to analyze the extent of livelihoods diversification among rural farm families, the impact of livelihood diversification and its determinants. Ninety respondents were selected by simple random sampling. The study found that majority of the farmers diversified from on-farm traditional crops to on-farm high-value crops (strawberry) while a majority of landless respondents had to do diversifying livelihood activities. Using the Wilcoxon sign rank test, it was observed that diversification had a significant impact on material possession and income level of the respondents. Diversification index was measured with the help of Simpson Diversification Index (SDI) and it conferred that fifty percent of the respondents belong to the high level of diversification (more than 0.43) and the average diversification index of the respondents was 0.32 which implied that the majority of the respondents had diversifying livelihood activities. Variables like education and cosmo-politeness were found to be significantly related to their degree of livelihood. Thus, diversification of livelihood is an important feature of rural survival and improving income level.