Income and Livelihood Issues of Farmers: A Study in Jammu Region of Jammu & Kashmir

This study conducted in five districts of Jammu region, has looked into the income and livelihood issues of farmers. The overall household income from agriculture has been estimated to be 56034 with highest of 97876 in Kathua district and lowest of 34491 in Doda district. The income from agriculture has been found highest for the large farmers (33.0%), followed by medium (29.2%), small (25.3%) and marginal (25.2%) farmers. The contribution of livestock has been found highest in case of marginal farmers (11.0%), followed by small (10.9%), medium (8.5%) and large (5.6%) farmers. The per day per capita income from agriculture has been found to be 15.43, 17.77, 26.42 and 36.12 for marginal, small, medium and large farmers, respectively, with an overall average of 20.55. The poverty line fixed by the government being 22/day/capita which shows that only medium and large farmers fall above the poverty line. The service sector has been found important as it contributes 34.59 per cent to total household income of all the farmers. Therefore, the farmers of Jammu region have to develop livelihood strategy for their existence.