Department of Agricultural Economics, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi - 221 005, Uttar Pradesh.
The sustainable agricultural development index (SADI) has been analysed in different districts of Orissa to evaluate the sustainable agricultural development in the rural livelihood perspective. Orissa has been purposively selected, as it is consisted of 30 districts and there is a wide inequality among the districts in the agricultural sector. To depict the district-wise agricultural development disparity scenario, composite Sustainable Agricultural Development Index (SADI) has been constructed using seven agricultural development indicators. The districts with lower SADI ranks are often described as agriculturally backward, while these with the better SADI ranks are considered advanced in agriculture. It has been argued that the districts with poor condition of agriculture (having value of SADI less than 0.4) should be accorded top priority in agricultural development. The SADI approach helps in establishing not only inter-district priority for the allocation of resources for agricultural development but also to priority programmes and projects relevant to each district for livelihood upliftment of rural poor. It has been pointed out that the future programme of sustainable agricultural development is a challenge for the researchers and policymakers in developing new strategies and finding solutions to the multitude problems of agriculture and allied sectors associated with better sustainable development for rural livelihood in the new millennium.
