Agricultural Economics Research Review

An analysis of irrigation, agriculture, livelihood and poverty linkages in the districts of Odisha has been carried out. District-wise scenario of irrigation, agriculture, livelihood and poverty has been revealed with the help of different indexes developed. The values of Groundwater Development Index have been found low to very low for 25 districts. Created irrigation potential out of the total potential ranged from 19 to 93 per cent in kharif and 8 to 61 per cent in rabi season. Half of the districts have shown medium Agricultural Development Index values. Level of living of majority of districts has been found at medium level. About 60 per cent of the BPL rural families comprise agricultural labourers, marginal and small farmers; ranging from 25 to 94 per cent. Balasore, Bargarh, Bhadrak, Cuttack, Ganjam, Jajpur and Puri districts have shown higher irrigation and agricultural development and Deogarh, Dhenkanal, Kandhamal, Malkangiri, Nawapara, Raygarh and Sundargarh districts have shown lower irrigation and agricultural development. The links and/or missing links between irrigation resources, agriculture development, poverty and level of living have been explored.