Analysis of livelihood diversification among farming community– towards a livelihood based extension approach

The sustainable livelihood approach assumes that any development interventions for the rural people should be congruent with their existing livelihood strategies and ability to adapt. The present study was an attempt to understand the livelihood diversification among small and marginal farmers. The study was conducted in the northern and central region of Kerala. It revealed that multiple livelihood options were adopted by the farming community of Kerala, which included farm diversification along with non-farm employment and migration of the family members. While the small farmers could adopt enterprise type self employment, the resource poor marginal farmers mostly depended on the low skilled, low capital intensive and low income earning activities in the unorganized service sector. It was concluded that any intervention to achieve sustainable agricultural development in the state needs to focus on the livelihood security of the marginal farmers.