Rural Poverty and Irrigation Performance: Village Level Studies in Tamil Nadu

The paper has analyzed the dynamics of poverty under irrigated as well as rainfed ecosystems by collecting field data for the year 2013–14 from two villages of Pudukkottai district in Tamil Nadu. Both descriptive and regression analyses were carried for the study. The descriptive statistics have revealed that the percentage of population below poverty line (PPBPL) and percentage of households below poverty line (PHHBPL) were higher in the rainfed village than in irrigated village. Also, employment days, income and consumption pattern were higher in irrigated than rainfed ecosystems. The study has confirmed that the capacity of irrigation was high in reducing rural poverty as compared to rainfed condition. The regression analysis has revealed that among the variables included, ‘irrigation’ played a major role in reducing rural poverty. Therefore, installation of irrigation sources is essential particularly in the rainfed areas.