Rural Livelihoods and Income

In the context of a changing rural economy and society, this chapter studies the role of agriculture, non-agriculture, and remittances among livelihoods undertaken by households in rural Odisha. Based on data from a primary survey and qualitative case studies, we examine the distribution of household income and explore how individuals and households combine multiple sources of livelihoods and income. The study finds that local non-agriculture emerges as the most important source of income, followed by agriculture, migrant remittances, and government transfers. Nearly one-third of households have migrants, but contrary to the mainstream migration and development literature, we find that households with migrants have lower incomes than households without migrants, indicating the distress-oriented nature of migration from rural Odisha. Further, we develop livelihood-and income-based household typologies to find that the type of livelihood matters: income levels and distribution of income vary significantly among agriculture-based households, non-agriculture-based households, remittance-based households, and government transfer-based households. The qualitative case studies, embedded in the analysis of household-based livelihood typologies, complement the survey data to better understand the processes of livelihood creation and diversification in rural Odisha.