Becoming/Being a Young Farmer in a Fast-Transitioning Region: The Case of Tamil Nadu

This chapter focuses on the pathways into farming among youth in select locales in the state of Tamil Nadu, southern India and what being in farming means for their lives and livelihoods. In doing so, we offer some interpretations about youth experiences of being a farmer, what they perceive as constraints in securing decent livelihoods, and the institutional context in which such processes and perceptions are embedded. We point out that regional political economy shapes the institutional context in which youth develop aspirations and dispensation towards farming. The extensive diversification into the non-farm and the diffusion of education in the farming communities in the state, we argue, have influenced how farming is located in relation to other occupations.