Household Access to Rural Non-Farm Livelihoods in Bolangir District of Orissa, India

Abstract

This study presents the results of a household questionnaire survey in Orissa, which was undertaken by ActionAid in collaboration with the Natural Resources Institute. The fieldwork was undertaken in 2002, covering 400 households in four blocks of Bolangir District (Belpara, Patnagarh, Puintala and Titilgarh). The objectives of the research were to identify farm and non-farm income sources of rural households and barriers to the uptake of non- farm employment. A second aim was to examine issues of governance, especially the levels of awareness of PRIs and their functions, and to assess the extent to which such bodies are impacting on the RNFE. The aim of the field study was not to characterise conditions in Bolangir District as a whole, but rather to provide examples of livelihoods, constraints and governance in an area of relatively poor agriculture. This will be brought together with results from other survey areas in Orissa and MP which generally have stronger agricultural sectors