Enhancing Farmer's Income by Identifying Determinants of Rural Households’ Income in Bihar

The study has identified the determinants of income of rural households in Bihar using primary data collected from 528 households in 40 villages from the districts of Sheohar, Purnia, Lakhisarai and Bhojpur with a view to increase farmer's income. The study has reveled that farming is the major source of income, especially for the small farmers in the state. The income inequality has been found high in the state, as shown by the Gini's coefficient of 0.49. An inverse relationship has been observed between farm-size and value of productivity in the state. The regression results of determinants of income have revealed that household size, owned land, education level, access to technology like tractors, remittances, loan taken from institutional sources, and irrigated area are statistically significant with positive sign, whereas incidence of flood is statistically significant with a negative sign. Therefore, to enhance farmer's income, it is necessary to strengthen access to technology and credit, irrigated area and educational level along with appropriate measures for mitigating the impact of floods.