Diversification: A Way Out for Doubling the Farmer's Income

This paper is based on income related information collected from farming families in Jammu & Kashmir for which an interview schedule was designed and study was conducted on a sample size of 630 farming families. The sample of households was drawn from four agro-ecological zones with multi-stage random sampling without replacement method. The study was conducted in the year 2016–17. From the list of enterprises, the major onfarm activities practised by the rural farm households were crop production and diary activity and the major offfarm activities were government employment, labour employment and private employment. Education, family size, and fragmented landholdings were the push factors which motivated the farming households to diversify towards others activities. Overall, the average gross income from on-farm enterprise was found as 77, 623/annum and from off-farm activities the average income was 1, 17, 643/annum. The study has observed the need to intensify education and skill development/trainings among farm households, which will provide a positive impact on the ability to diversify their livelihood options in the state.