Livelihood Diversity in Family Farming in Selected Hill Areas of West Bengal, India

The conventional wisdom for many years has been that rising output and incomes in agriculture itself are the catalyst for diverse non-farm activities in rural areas. The diversity of livelihoods is an important feature of rural survival and is closely allied to flexibility, resilience and stability. In this sense, diverse livelihood systems are less vulnerable than undiversified ones; they are also likely to prove more sustainable over time precisely because they allow for positive adaptation to changing circumstances. Incomes were larger in the families with more diversity which results in a more sustainable rural livelihood. With this backdrop, the present study was in selected hill district of West Bengal in different altitudes. The data was collected from farmers using structured interview schedule. The statistical methods such Percentage, Mean, t-test and Correlation analysis were used as per the characteristics of data. The study reveals that there is difference in income and livelihood diversity between higher altitude and lower altitudes. Parameters like income from animal husbandry, income from marginal works and income from labouring, are positively correlated with diversity; but land holding, income from agriculture, possession of household assets, average family education and maximum family education are negatively correlated with diversity.